


Chance Meeting (Rewrite)

by FireflySummerwynd



Series: Chance Meetings (Rewritten) [1]
Category: Poison (US Band), ashley purdy - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Glam Metal, Rock 'n' roll, Rock Stars, hair metal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:01:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 80
Words: 269,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24502021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireflySummerwynd/pseuds/FireflySummerwynd
Summary: Sick of her mother's mental, Emotional, and verbal abuse, among other things, Aerin Crosswhite packs up what she can carry and takes off. Hitchhiking ain't exactly how she wanted to get outta North Carolina, but at this point, she's willing to take just aboutanyoption.Ashley Purdy ain't expecting to find himself a squatter when he shows up to assess damage caused by a recent Storm and get back to work on his most recent flip. Considering the events that made him move back East, he's more than a bit disturbed–especiallywhen he sees actual Swords among this woman's few possessions. But seeing she's obviously terrified of him and his buddy that helps him–and thatthat'swhy she's even remotely combative, he decidesagainstcalling the cops on her.
Relationships: Ashley Purdy/Aidan Ashcroft, Bobby Dall/Aerin Crosswhite
Series: Chance Meetings (Rewritten) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1770307
Comments: 5
Kudos: 2





	1. Prologue

_June, 2019_

_Burlington, North Carolina_

“Well, that’s the last of it–Time to get outta here before that bitch gets home, just so I won’t have to deal with _that_ on top of everything else.”

Twenty-five-Year-old Aerin Crosswhite hitched the gig bags containing two of her most prized possessions–a _Raiden_ four-string bass guitar from the Schecter _Diamond_ series and a six-string _Avion_ designed by Greg Bennett, but produced by Samick for their _Signature series_ –onto her shoulders. Aside from that and what she’d already taken outside, all she’d to grab was the handmade acoustic case that held her final most prized possesion. Owned by her beloved pappaw prior to his Death, that acoustic _DM-3_ –commonly referred to as a _Martin_ –from Sigma Guitars was older than she was, and she wasn’t about to leave it behind.

Aerin only set all three cases down long enough to fish up her keys so she could lock the door that led into the kitchen behind her. She might–for all Intents and purposes–hate her mother, considering all the shit she’d put her through over the course of her Life, but she was too good a person to just leave the woman’s house open for intruders. It woulda been no less than her abusive bitch of a mother deserved, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it, no matter how much it was or wasn’t deserved. To that End, she decided on just locking the door and hiding the key under the mat right outside it, as said in the letter she left behind. However, she did so on the Dark side of the house after Nightfall to ensure nobody saw her and could still break in.

With those things taken care of, the young woman hitched her gig bags back onto her shoulders and picked up her acoustic case again. Her free hand snagged the handle of what she affectionately referred to as the _Bitch Wagon,_ a wagon that could be up-Ended like a dump truck that’d been bought for yard work and other household projects. She didn’t care that she was technically committing a crime by taking it, and when her mother wasn’t home and aware. There was no way in Hell she was leaving behind the amps, the books, her laptop, and the few changes of clothes she actually had that’d been loaded into it.

Even though she was already feeling like her skeleton could fall apart at any second, she squared her weighed-down shoulders and took off. The wagon rolled on along behind her easily enough due to its rubber tires, which she’d made sure were Aired up before she’d ever loaded her belongings into it. She wasn’t too sure where she was gonna go, how she was gonna get there aside from simply walking, or what she’d do for money once she got there. At least she could say that the one friend she still had knew she was leaving, and that she’d get in touch with her as soon as she could, if nothing else. Putting all that far from her mind, though, she cut a hard left at the End of her street, knowing that route’d take her to the nearby Interstate.

Aerin wasn’t planning on actually hitchhiking–it might be legal in her State among many others, but she wasn’t looking to get herself arrested or otherwise in trouble. However, she wasn’t dumb enough to turn down a ride, if it was offered to her, whether that offer was made by a cop, a trucker, or someone else. All she hoped was that this was the start of bigger and better things for her, that her Luck turned around with a quickness.

“In the meantime, may the Goddess watch over and protect me along my Journey,” she murmured, reaching up to clutch one of the pendants on her handmade necklace. “And may She take me straight to Charon, should anything happen to me and I don’t chooseta stay behind to wreak havoc on those who’ve wronged me.”


	2. One

_Nashville, Tennessee_

After a week of walking and the occasional hitchhiking when a trucker’d spot her on the side of the road and offer her a ride, Aerin found herself on the West side of Nashville. She wasn’t even a full mile from the four-forty beltline, which reminded her all-too-vividly of the place she’d once called home. It was all too similar to the four-forty beltline that looped around Raleigh, the Capitol of her home State, and that made her a bit sad to think about. She wouldn’t deny being homesick to anyone who asked, even though that State’d brought her nothing but misery pretty much from the second she was born.

Glancing up at the Sky, she didn’t exactly like what she saw looming overhead, and the sight made her bite her lip anxiously. Dark Storm Clouds were rolling in, and considering where she was, she figured that she needed to find shelter soon. Twisters didn’t often come down back where she was from since most Storms weakened as they crossed the Appalachians, but this was a totally different ball game. She might as well’ve been out in the open Plains of Kansas or something compared to back home, and she damn well knew it.

Being an Air Witch, she was far more in tune with the Winds than most gave her credit for, and the uneasy feeling she was getting as she watched the Storm brew overhead wasn’t a good one. Something told her this wasn’t gonna be like any of the other Storms she’d ridden through while in the cab of a big rig on her way out here, so she decided to find the closest thing that resembled a sturdy shelter. The only thing she could find was a house that was quite obviously undergoing renovations, but it’d do on such short notice. Her plan wasta be outta the place and well on her way again before anybody could show up and have her arrested for trespassing–or at least given a very stern warning, if nothing else.

It turned out to be a good thing that she’d sought shelter when she had, ’cuz it wasn’t long before a certain rumble met her ears. Aerin gasped as she stowed her few belongings in the nearest closet of the place, then started looking for a better placeta hide herself. Thankfully, this house’d a basement that wasn’t all that hard to find, so she was quick to dart down the stairs.

Once downstairs, the young woman hid herself in the nearest closet, praying to any Deity that’d listen to her that not only would she survive the Twister on the horizon, but so would her stuff. If any of her guitars wound up missing ’cuz they’d gotten sucked up and dumped Hell-only-knew where, she might as well not even bother continuing her Journey. Walking out into the middle of a busy street’d serve her better, ’cuz if she lost what lil she still owned, it’d essentially be a sign from the Gods that she wasn’t meant to be here anymore. Those Thoughts were quickly dispersed as that rumble overhead turned into a full-on roar, but somehow, it didn’t sound as loud as she thought it prolly shoulda. Aerin wasn’t gonna make any assumptions just yet, but she thought that maybe–just _maybe_ –her Luck’d hold at least till Morn.

After the Storm’d passed and it was declared at least relatively safe for folksta start coming out and assessing damage, thirty-five-Year-old Ashley Purdy was one of those who did just that. The first thing he assessed with a critical eye was his own home, which didn’t appear to’ve sustained the slightest bit of damage. Made outta brick with Hurricane-rated windows and doors prolly better suited for somewhere along the Florida Coast, though, he wasn’t too surprised by that.

Heaving a sigh of relief, he pulled out his phone and started calling around to various friends that happened to live in the area. They were all pretty much scattered along the outskirts of Nashville, just like he’d done himself, and it appeared that the Twister they’d been warning folks about’d gone North of the country Music Capitol. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to _not_ check in, if only to let _them_ know that _he_ was all right since he doubted any of them were faring worse than he was right now. Luckily for him, all his friends answered and reported minimal damage to their homes, if any at all, and he couldn’t have been more relieved.

The last local buddy he tried to call was the one who worked on all the flips he did in the area, a guy by the name of Jeremiah. Aside from their mutual interest in flipping houses, another thing they’d in common was their Love of and involvement in rock Music. He was actually one of Ash’s closest friends, although he wouldn’t necessarily say he was a _best_ friend, as it were.

Jeremiah assured him that he and his family–which consisted of his wife and three daughters–were perfectly fine at their house roughly five miles North of him in Oak Hill. No damage’d been done to said house, and none of them’d been hurt by so much as an insect picked up by the insane Winds and thrown against their faces. Relieved to hear that, he couldn’t help but say that he was just glad to know that he and all his other friends were all right. None of them knew just how strong the Twister that’d just come through was, nor the exact Path it’d taken, but it seemed that everybody he cared about’d managed to stay outta harm’s way. All in all, he couldn’t have asked for a better set of phone calls, and admitting that made his friend let out a hearty laugh.

 _“I was actually thinkin’ ’bout heading up to the Brighton houseta see how_ it _fared through it,”_ he told him. _“Word’s that the Twister pretty much ran along the beltline.”_

“Fuck, that pretty much puts it within spitting distance, if nothing else,” Ash groaned.

 _“Yeah, I know_ – _that’s why I wanna go check on it,”_ his friend chuckled. _“That, and to board it up, if it_ did _take any hits before any miscreants can get in.”_

“Gimme twenty, and I’ll be up there with ya,” he told him. “And make sure you’re packing, just in case.”

 _“When_ ain’t _I packing, man?”_ Jeremiah laughed. _“Ya forget, I grew up further South than you_ – _I love my God, guns, and rock ‘n’ roll, just like Uncle Ted!”_

The fairly-young bassist couldn’t help laughing at his friend’s referenceta veteran rocker, Ted Nugent. “All right, all right. Like I said, gimme twenty or so, and I’ll be up there.”

 _“See ya there, Cap’n!”_ he hooted before Ending the call.

“You’re such a dork, Jere, but that’s one of the reasons I love ya like a brother,” Ash chuckled, shoving his phone into his back pocket.

Heading back upstairs from his garage, he all but tore through the kitchen and down the hallway that ran between the living room and foyer toward his bedroom. Said bedroom was on the back side of one of the office areas, which flanked the aforementioned foyer alongside the formal dining room. Whether he needed so much Space for being a single, childless man, or not, he didn’t care a single fig–even though a million bucks was a lil pricey, he hadn’t been able to pass it up when he’d bought the place four Years ago. Now that he could cash out at a lil over a mil and a-half, if he decided to sell, it made spending that much all the more worth it.

But it wasn’t the house he resided in that was on his mind as he grabbed his essentials from the top of his dresser, which sat across from the foot of his bed. No, Ash was more worried about the house he was currently in the middle of flipping that sat about halfway between the neighborhoods of Sylvan Park and Green Hills. Since he was in the middle of renovating it so he could sell it, the house currently didn’t have power unless there was a generator hooked up. That meant the existing security system didn’t function, so just about anybody could break in whenever they felt like it. If the house’d sustained any kinda damage from the Twister that’d just gone through, that’d make a break-in even easier till the necessary repairs were made.

Grabbing the nine-millimeter he always took with him when doing something like this, the bassist made sure it was hot. Unless he’d recently fired it–usually at the local gun range–he always kept the mag full, plus one in the chamber for anytime it _didn’t_ have its mag in. Assured that he was good to go, he nodded to himself before heading back downstairsta his car so he could meet up with Jeremiah.

“Doesn’t look like there’s anything wrong,” that very friend reported once he’d arrived and gotten out. “Seems like those Hurricane windows did their job to me.”

“I still wanna take a look around inside,” Ash told him. “Don’t ask me why, but something just doesn’t _feel_ right to me.”

“So, you’re feeling it, too, huh?” His friend chuckled as he popped the button on his holster. “I didn’t wanna mention it and start putting ideas in your head.”

“You’re not putting shit in my head that wasn’t already there,” he laughed, even as he popped the button on his own holster.

Weapons now drawn with the safety disengaged, both men headed up to the house in question, although from different sides. Jeremiah said he’d take the back door, which earned him a nod as he motioned toward the front of the house, meaning he was taking the front door. That nod was quickly Returned before his friend disappeared from sight, which left him to take a deep breath and head up the short sidewalk.

As soon as he got within spitting distance of the front steps, the hair on the back of Ash’s neck stood up, and it wasn’t ’cuz of some weird vibe. It was pretty obvious that somebody’d broken into the lil townhouse he was working on, ’cuz where the sidelight next to the door was broken couldn’t have been from a piece of Twister debris. Sure enough, trying the handle proved the door was unlocked, and he knew damn good and well neither he, nor his friend woulda left it like that. Not with various materials that’d cost him half a fortune, as well as half their tools left in the place since they weren’t exactly easy to transport.

Edging down the front hall toward the kitchen as closeta Silently as he could, the bassist saw his friend appear from checking the dining and sitting rooms off to his left. The back door opened into the kitchen, so that and the half-bath woulda been the first places he’d checked before heading anywhere else. Jerking his head to his right after a quick check of the living room revealed nothing, he kept his pistol raised as he moved down the short hall that branched off the foyer.

The staircase that led up to the second story was immediately to his left, the one that led down to the basement right next to it. Across from that second staircase was a small closet that could really be nothing more than a coat closet or house the Air handler for the HVAC unit. But at the End of that short hallway was the door to the master bedroom, which was the only other room on this particular level. If nothing proved to be amiss in this room, he knew they’d head upstairs before finally braving the basement and checking down there. Both he and Jeremiah knew that it was possible whoever’d broken in was long gone, but at the same Time, they couldn’t afford to take unnecessary chances.

“What the–” Ash was startled when he ripped open the closet door, which was right next to the bathroom door on the other side of the bed.

“Whatcha got, bud?” His friend had stayed a few feet behind him, but quickly entered the master bedroom on his heels.

A loud hiss rang outta the closet, and he’d have sworn it was a Cat–if he weren’t looking at the woman currently backing herself into the furthest corner.

“Found our intruder, Jere,” he said, his pistol trained on the woman. “C’mon outta there, and don’t make either of us shootcha.”

If she did anything, she only backed herself even further into the corner as she reached for something in what appeared to be her belongings.

“What are ya, girl–deaf?” Jeremiah asked, his own pistol now trained on her.

Another loud hiss rang out, both men jumping back with their own distinct Curses when she pulled out a literal Sword.

“Fuck me, nekkid and runnin’!” Ash snapped.

“Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat!” his friend bellowed in an equally shocked tone. “Am I losin’ it, or is this girl holding us at Swordpoint?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure that’s no fuckin’ dagger, man,” he said, now wary of the standoff they were in the middle of. “Put that thing down and come outta there.”

“Not till those’re holstered.” The young woman used the Sword in question to gesture to their pistols. “’Cuz if ya think I won’t kill ya with Karma or Kindness either one, you’re more delusional than I am.”

Both men turned wide eyes on each other before quickly turning their attention back to the intruder who’d hidden in the master closet. The fact that she spoke clear English wasn’t a surpriseta them, nor was the thick, syrupy drawl that coated her words. It was more so the fact that she was essentially negotiating her own release, sans weapons on all their parts, that surprised them.

Taking a sharper look at her, Ash realized that she was so terrified of them, her hand was shaking as she brandished her weapon. She was clearly in _fight-or-flight_ mode, and one wrong misstep on either of their parts could result in tragedy for really any of them. But it was the look in her eyes–which were just as Dark as his own, give or take–that made him finally hold up his free hand as he reached down to holster his pistol. It was almost as if she was begging him not to make her do anything rash, ’cuz she really didn’t wanna hurt him or his friend–but if pushed far enough, she’d slaughter them like Pigs so she could save herself.

Jeremiah looked at him like he’d finally lost his last screw, demanding to know why he was holstering his weapon with a Sword-wielding crazy-bitch in front of them. Yanking down on his arm so the remaining pistol was now trained on the floor between his feet, he told him to take a good, long look at her. If he didn’t see the same things he was seeing, he’d admit to being crazy, but he knew damn good and well that none of his friends were quite _that_ stupid.

“Jesus Christ,” he swore, finally moving to holster his own weapon.

“Yeah, I thought you’d see it, too,” Ash dead-panned. “She’s clearly terrified of us more than _we_ are of _her.”_

“No fuckin’ shit, man,” his friend drawled, even as he rolled his eyes.

Once both pistols’d been holstered, the young woman finally shoved her Sword back into the scabbard they now saw peeking outta her belongings. A second look at that made them realize that it wasn’t just a pile of random shit next to her–everything that was piled up was actually in some kinda wagon. What’d stopped them from realizing that before was the Wooden object settled in front of its tires–which they now realized was a guitar case. From the looks of it, said case was handmade and far from being brand-new, if the patina of it was anything to go by. That led them to another startling realization, which made their eyes widen again as they shot a quick glance at each other. Whoever she was, this young woman was homeless and prolly hadn’t even wanted to break in when she’d knocked out the front window.

“Hon, what on Earth’s your name?” Ash asked as he finally dropped down into a squat. Considering how unpredictable she obviously was, he took care to stay turned so that if she lashed out with a nut-shot, she’d get his thigh instead.

“A-Aerin,” she said, unable to help the stutter.

“Aerin, huh?” The bassist couldn’t help a chuckle. “Well, my name’s Ashley, and this is my buddy, Jeremiah.”

“I know who _you_ are, Mr. Purdy,” Aerin snapped, glaring at him. “I’d have to be fifteen different flavors of stupid to _not_ recognize the bassist of one of my favorite bands.”

“Well, shit–you’re a BVB fan, girl?” This was asked by Jeremiah, who looked downright stunned.

“Not as much as I used to be,” the young woman answered, shaking her head. “Andy’s worse than Bret Michaels in the narcissistic, Control-freak, asshole department, if ya ask me.”

Ash couldn’t help but crack up at that, knowing she didn’t even know the half of it. “All right, whether we got off to a bad start or not, I’m starting to like ya already.”

“That _like_ better not involve a boner, ’cuz that doesn’t count as feelings in my book,” she told him.

His friend wound up hitting the wall next to the closet door with his shoulder as he erupted into gut-splitting laughter at her comment. There was a grin stretching his face from ear-to-ear as he said that this one clearly wasn’t gonna let him get away with his usual shit, if those words were any indication. All that answered him was a single raised finger, but the profane gesture just made him laugh even harder than he already was.

Turning his attention back to Aerin, the bassist told her that she really needed to come outta the closet she’d been hiding in. No doubt she was feeling caged, which wasn’t gonna help in how predictable she was gonna be, and he really didn’t feel like losing any body parts _or_ his Life today. Fuck, he’d managed to survive a Twister yet again from miraculously _not_ being right in its path, and he preferred to retain the ability to draw breath. Besides, if she’d a good enough reason for breaking into the house like he thought she did, he might be willing to let her go without bothering to call the cops.

It took her a few moments, but the young woman finally moved onto her hands and knees so she could actually push herself to her feet. Ash was hard-pressed to ignore the view straight down her shirt that that move gave him and Jeremiah both, his friend politely averting his eyes. God, if this woman didn’t have a gorgeous rack on her, he musta forgotten what tits were in the past few Years since his second cross-country move. But from the looks of it, these weren’t just some gorgeous tits–they were actually Natural, rather than implants.

Once she’d stood up, the bassist and his friend both realized that this girl was what they liked to call _vertically-challenged_. She couldn’t have been more than five feet tall, and if she was, it woulda only been by two or three inches, at the very most. Compared to their own heights of around _six_ feet tall, she was definitely a bit of a short-stack, but clearly not one to be messed with. If her stance as she reached down for her guitar case–which revealed two gig bags behind it–was anything to go by, she’d bust them upside the heads with one of those guitars for making fun of her. Since they both liked their heads intact and relatively round, both men were quick to bite back any smart remarks that might result in Violence.

“So, what on Earth didja break in for?” Jeremiah asked once they’d gotten her and her belongings out to the currently-gutted kitchen.

“Well, I didn’t fancy becoming the next Dorothy,” she dead-panned as she rolled her eyes.

 _“Ahhhh,_ seeking shelter from the Twister that just came through,” the bassist said, nodding as he got it.

“If not for that, I’d have just kept on going,” Aerin admitted. “If I wouldn’t leave my last home open to intruders when I left, even though its owner more than deserves it, why would I’ve broken into another home without a damn good reason?”

“So, you’re really homeless?” he asked.

“Got sick of my mother’s various forms of abuse,” the young woman answered. She couldn’t help a wince and reaching for her left hip as she shifted her weight, which made him frown.

“Don’t tell me I’ma have to drag ya off to a hospital to get checked out now,” Ash said, now a bit worried about her.

“Nothing a damn doctor can do besides maybe a hip replacement,” she groaned. “Even eating Aleve like candy doesn’t help, and that’s when I’m _not_ trekking through fuckin’ Mountains in between hitchhiking.”

Turning a look on his friend, the bassist reached out for the gig bags still hanging from her shoulders. “Jere, get the Wooden case and the wagon.”

“Wait, what?” Jeremiah looked confused. “What’re ya gon’ do, man?”

“I’ma take her home with me,” he answered plainly. “It’s that, or leave her in a house without power in the Middle of Summer, which Nan’d bust my fuckin’ ass for.”

Stuttering as he turned to head down the front hall with the gig bags he’d to put up a bit of a fight to get away from her, his friend asked him if he was outta his ever-lovin’ mind. Casting a glance back over his shoulder as he opened the front door, he told him to think back on how terrified she’d been in the closet. Only then did he say that he’d read in her eyes that she was begging them not to resort to drastic measures, ’cuz she hadn’t really wanted to hurt either one of them. That being the case, he doubted she’d hurt him in his own house, whether he slept with his pistol under his pillow or not.

Clearly unable to argue with his bone-headed friend, Jeremiah let out a Curse, but still took the young woman’s final guitar case from where she’d set it in the floor at her feet. She was quick to hobble off after him, warning him that if he broke the case or guitar within, she’d make sure he never achieved another erection in his Life. The same went for what was hidden by a tarp that was bungie-corded around the wagon he hauled behind him, too, and she made no bones about that.

Out front, Ash Returned from settling the gig bags in his trunk so he could take the final caseta lay between them. It was then that Aerin warned them to be careful with the wagon, that it’d flip like a dump truck, if they didn’t watch how they grabbed it since it was particularly heavy. That was when she gave him the same warning about her belongings hidden within it, and he couldn’t help cocking a brow curiously. What on Earth could she have that was so important to her that she’d make threats against the heart of a guy’s masculinity? He somehow got the feeling that he was soon to find out, if only ’cuz it’d be easier to unload the contents of the wagon to load into his back seat.

He couldn’t say that he was surprised to find not one, but two amplifiers in the wagon once they’d pulled the tarp off. Upon closer inspection, he realized that one of them was actually a bass amp, and judging by the size of one of those gig bags, he realized it must house a bass guitar. But he was quick to put that at the back of his mind as he got this young woman and her stuff loaded up, then parted ways so he could head home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case anyone cares for a visual, here's a link to the real estate listing I was using for the house Ash's supposed to be in the middle of flipping. Just imagine it totally gutted and nowhere near done, the pics included in the listing being what it'll become by the Time he's done with it, if that helps.  
> ~Firefly
> 
> Link to Flip House–https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/130-Brighton-Close-Nashville-TN-37205/41130658_zpid/?mmlb=t,0


	3. Two

Pulling up in front of a house she considered _waaaay_ too big for just one person, Aerin couldn’t believe the way her Luck was currently going. Even though she was still wary, her heart still racing a bit from having been held at gunpoint, part of her was glad to actually have a placeta stay. Maybe it wouldn’t be anything long-term, but it was certainly better than what she’d had for the past week–and for a long Time before that, if she were honest with at least herself.

The man behind the wheel–whom she’d recognized the second he’d whipped open the door of the closet she’d been hiding in, strategically parked his car in the one open spot closest to the front door. As he killed the motor and opened his door to get out, he said that he didn’t normally park here, but it’d make getting her stuff into the house a lot easier.

Another good point he made when she climbed out from the passenger’s side was that there were less stairs for her to have to negotiate on this particular route inside. There were prolly half a dozen leading up from this particular parking Spaceta the front sidewalk, then maybe another half-dozen to a dozen that led up to the actual front porch. Well, that was after the two or three that was built into the actual sidewalk, but it was still less than if he’d taken her in through the garage. But the thing about that second set of stairs was that their rise wasn’t quite as high as most stairs, so they’d prolly feel better on her hip once he got her up to them.

“If ya dare pick me up and carry me without me asking ya to, your head might be what my bass finally gets broken on,” she warned him.

“Duly noted,” Ash chuckled, popping his trunk. “’Cuz I rather like my head intact and somewhat round.”

The young woman muttered something under her breath, but he couldn’t quite catch what she’d said.

“What was that?” he asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Aerin told him. “I’m not telling the whole story right now, so it wouldn’t do me any good to repeat myself.”

 _“Oooo…kaaaay.”_ The bassist looked confused as he grabbed her amps, which he’d guess weighed about twenty-five pounds apiece.

“Ties back into my Past, and I don’t feel like crying my eyes out right now,” she said as she grabbed the bag that he’d quickly realized had a laptop stuffed into it.

“Yeesh, must be bad,” Ash winced as he turned to lead her up to the front door.

The young woman made no bones about how he didn’t even know the half of it as she made to follow him, wincing every step of the way. He could actually hear her limp, especially once she started negotiating that first set of stairs, and he knew he was gonna have to put his foot down already. Without even having to ask, despite not knowing her very well, he already knew she was just as stubborn as he was, if not more so.

Once he’d gotten her into the house, he told Aerin to let him worry about getting whatever else of hers was still in his trunk. Even without the way she was currently looking at the L-shaped staircase that led upstairs from the foyer, he knew it was a better idea for her to get off her feet. In fact, that was the very reason he decided to abandon her amps in the downstairs office for the Time being since he was actually planning on giving up his own bedroom. That may not happen again after tonight, depending on how she felt, but it was certainly better than her falling or otherwise getting hurt, if she refused to let him carry her.

She didn’t see how she’d much of a choice in the matter as he made it clear it wasn’t open for debate by heading right back outside. Left with no other choices for now, she merely shrugged and turned to hobble through the short lil hall that separated the stairs from the formal dining room. Part of her wasn’t surprised it opened up into a massive–and when she said massive, she meant _massive_ –living room. Hell, to be quite honest, part of her was glad that that was the case, considering how she groaned as she collapsed on his couch.

It wasn’t long before Ash’d brought the rest of her belongings into the house, her guitars parked in the office next to her amps. The only thing he actually brought into the living room was the bookbag he was relatively certain was filled almost to the point of splitting the zippers with clothes and shit like hygiene gear. Judging by the scent wafting around her, it’d been a while since she’d last managed a shower, but he didn’t exactly wanna be rude in how he said so. The young woman was quick to surprise him, though, by telling him that she didn’t care if he said something like that to her outright. Considering such a thing’d happened before, if she didn’t wanna hear it, she’d just as soon flip him off and tell him to _fuck_ off.

“My mammaw used to annoy the shit outta me all fuckin’ Day, then wanna complain that I stunk,” Aerin said with a somewhat mischievous grin. “Guess who just turned on the _selective hearing_ and still didn’t go shower as payback?”

“Aw, now that’s just gross!” he laughed.

“Maybe so, but she always brought it on herself,” the young woman snickered, shoving herself up off the couch to follow him.

“This is my room, but I said I’d give it up for the Night, if nothing else,” Ash said, leading her down the hall that’d run to her left as she passed under the stairs.

As soon as they walked in, she saw what _had_ to be a King-size bed Dominating the back wall of the room.

“C’mon, and we’ll getcha in the shower,” the bassist told her, gesturing for her to keep following him.

“More like _I’ll_ do it,” Aerin retorted, her grin belying any true malice as she limped after him.

“You’re definitely a stubborn one, aren’tcha?” he laughed as he led her through the double doors in the one diagonal wall of the room.

“To the very marrow of my bones,” the young woman answered, a bit surprised as she walked in behind him.

“Towels’re under the sink on the right, closest to _my_ closet,” Ash told her as he sat her bookbag down, then turned to look at her. “What?”

“Oh, good Luck getting me outta _this_ before Morn,” she said, toeing the side of the tub as her surprised expression morphed back into a face-splitting grin. “Won’t happen till I’m dead and pruny, what with the way my hip feels right now.”

“Well, there’s always the hot tub out back, if you’d rather that,” the bassist chuckled.

Unless he was finally losing his mind, he’d swear her eyes positively lit up when he said that, which made him laugh a bit harder. Hell, it honestly looked like her eyes actually Changed Colors, from the same deep Chocolate as his own to something more akin to caramel. Maybe it’d just been a trick of the Lighting, but he somehow got the feeling that wasn’t the case, that her eyes were her most expressive feature.

Leaving her to take care of the business at hand, Ash headed off to the kitchen so he could start trying to figure out something for dinner. He’d absolutely no clue what this girl liked, when it came to her food preferences, so he wasn’t too sure _what_ route he oughta take. That left him to prop a shoulder against the cabinet that hid the worst of the built-in fridge next to the back hall and stairs as he tapped his chin thoughtfully. If he were honest, he wasn’t exactly feeling like doing anything fancy for once, whether he was cooking for just himself or more than one person.

Surprisingly, Aerin limped down the hall quicker than he’d have thought she would, running a hairbrush through her hair as she did. He was surprised to realize that said hair actually damn near reached the small of her back, considering it’d been braided earlier. It was absolutely gorgeous and made him wanna run his fingers through it the entire Night, even though he typically preferred blondes. The scent that wafted over from it once she was close enough just made him hungry, and he wasn’t too sure what he was hungry _for_ anymore.

“Take that lusty look elsewhere, Mr. Purdy,” the young woman chuckled, laying her hairbrush down on the lil coffee table behind the peninsula counter.

“Lusty look– _what_ lusty look?” Ash asked, trying to be playful as he denied having been wearing one.

“That smoldering one in your eyes that said your blood was starting to turn to Lava,” she told him plainly, the smirk on her face a knowing one.

“All right, all right–ya got me,” the bassist laughed. “Can’t help that I know how to appreciate Beauty when I see it.”

“A lil too much so, if ya ask me,” Aerin said. “But that’s neither here, nor there right now–I’m more interested in food.”

“I was kinda thinking the same thing,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck as his expression turned sheepish. “But I realized I don’t have the first clue about whatcha like, so I couldn’t really think of anything to get started on.”

“I could go with a box of sketti and be perfectly happy right now,” the young woman supplied. “Then again, when ya haven’t really eaten for the better part of a week, you’re not gonna be too picky.”

“Damn, girl–fuckin’ seriously?” Ash looked incredulous as he processed that. “It’s seriously been nearly a week since you’ve had anything to eat?”

“Hey, I took what lil bit the truckers that gave me rides could spare,” she snapped, sounding more than a lil defensive. “Nothing that was already open, ’cuz I know accepting rides from strangers was already bad enough–I wasn’t giving ’em a chanceta drug and rape me, too.”

“Well, at least you’ve a _lil_ bit of Intelligence,” the bassist acquiesced, holding up his hands in surrender. “But I gotta ask–do ya even have a job?”

“Sometimes, I fuckin’ Wish,” Aerin grumbled. “Other Times, I’m perfectly happy being unemployed.”

“Why don’tcha, then?” he asked, his tone this Time sounding curious.

As she moved to settle on the bar stool at the very End of the peninsula counter, the young woman sighed and shoved her still-wet hair back outta her face. Taking a deep breath, she explained that she’d gotten the only job she’d ever had ’cuz the manager of the store her mother worked in at the Time more or less took pity on her. If not for having that in, she highly doubted she’d have gotten _that_ particular job when she had, never mind held on to it for as long as she did.

While Ash turned to start on that more or less requested sketti for them, she continued her explanation, saying that whether she’d loved or hated it, she’d busted her ass on that job. She always tried to do said job by the book, according to the SOP–or standard operating procedure–she’d been trained under. But it’d quickly become apparent that none of her co-workers were doing the same, which only made her job harder for her.

By the Time she’d decided to transfer to a different store with the same company, Aerin was pretty sure her new store manager–not the one who’d originally hired her, but a different one–was ready to lay her off. The store she’d transferred to, though, had all but promised that she was gonna get double the hours and it was also half the distance from where she was living at the Time. She’d thought that maybe things’d start looking up, but she couldn’t have been more wrong before even her first Day at that second store. Things’d only gotten worse over the course of that Year, which ultimately led to her getting fired all of nine Days prior to her birthday.

The thing that pissed her off about that more than anything was that her store manager hadn’t even bothered giving her a call to inform her of that. He’d have his weeks where he wouldn’t even put her on the schedule, so she didn’t think anything of him doing that yet again. But the Day she’d tried to log in so she could see if that’d Changed, only to get an error message about her credentials being invalid had Changed that. She’d finally managed to find the Time to call her store, only to be told in no uncertain terms that her position’d been terminated, which meant she’d been fired.

“The bastard didn’t even have the ballsta call me and tell me he’d done that!” she spat, pushing herself up to take over when he got ready to dump the pasta in the pot he’d set on the stove to boil.

“Put that gorgeous tush right back on that stool,” Ash admonished her. “I’m not gonna have ya aggravating that hip worse than it already is.”

“Fine, if ya wanna trade that for me either not finishing dinner, or it making a Return appearance,” the young woman said, shrugging.

“Wait, what?” He couldn’t help the confused look on his face.

“I’m so sensitive to texture, pasta that’s even slightly overcooked’ll make me sick,” Aerin explained. “Better to just lemme cook it to _al dente_ perfection, myself.”

“Okay, now that’s just strange,” the bassist chuckled, but still handed over the box. “At least pull the stool around here to sit on while you’re doing that.”

Smirking, she didn’t bother trying to argue once she’d dumped the pasta into the pot.

“But back to what we were talking about,” Ash said, rummaging through the pantry across from what he considered the wine bar.

“Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find another job since,” the young woman said. “Doesn’t matter whether I’m honest on a job app, or fill it full of lies–nothing fuckin’ works.”

“Are ya fuckin’ shitting me?” he asked as he Returned with a couple jars of Ragú in his hands. “And I hope you’re good with meat-flavored sauce.”

“My favorite, actually,” Aerin chuckled. “And no, I’m not kidding. Doesn’t seem to matter whether I actually put Michaels in my job history, leave it blank, fill it in with something else that’s not actually true ’cuz of a friend wanting to help me and being willing to lie on my behalf–nothin’, nada, zip, zilch.”

“Fuck me, nekkid and runnin’,” the bassist said, whistling before he spoke.

Laughing, she told him that she’d rather not, and it was nothing personal toward him, or even a matter of whether she was attracted to him or not. If he thought she was having trouble getting around right now, this was nothing compared to what it’d be, if she tried fuckin’ anyone right now. She prolly wouldn’t even be able to sleep without taking a dose of Percocet she still had from when a tooth’d gotten abscessed earlier that Year, if she tried to relieve _that_ particular urge.

Wincing as he moved to get out the strainer, he admitted that he couldn’t fathom living in pain like that, yet staying sober like she apparently did. Shrugging before pulling up one of the noodlesta see how tender it’d gotten, Aerin simply said that she didn’t like how she felt when she was drunk or floating on her painkiller. Fortunately or unfortunately, she was such a lightweight that it didn’t take much to get her completely blitzed.

The bassist couldn’t help laughing at that Thought as he thought back to how old he was the last Time he’d been like that. As he moved to drain the pasta for her once she deemed it done, he said that he’d prolly been around eighteen the last Time he’d taken so lil to be blitzed outta his head. Ever since then, he’d drank so much–particularly on tour–that how much it took to even get him buzzed now was ridiculous. But that was one of the pricesta be paid for taking things so far more often than he didn’t till within the last Year or so, and he knew it without having to be told. He could tell that Aerin was curious now, but quite literally biting her tongue as she mixed up their sketti and started serving it up.

Even though he was surprised by the amount this tiny slip of a girl packed away, he didn’t mention it as they settled at the counter and enjoyed the fare. Whether she was or not, he was ready to start winding down for the Day since he’d to get up early in the Morn so he could head out. That garnered him a curious look for a totally different reason, which made him laugh as he explained about his clothing line. She was quick to say that she’d known he’d started one a few Years ago, but hadn’t heard much about it in the last couple Years. In all Honesty, she hadn’t been sure if he was still running it, or if he’d decided to shut it down in recent Times.

Shaking his head, Ash said that it wasn’t that he’d shut it down–it was that he was getting almost no publicity from his label anymore. Everything was pretty much Centered on, tied up and locked down by his band mate, so pretty much none of the others got any publicity for anything they did on their own. He, personally got the least amount, and he was honestly starting to wonder if his band and label were Intentionally sabotaging him in an attempt to bankrupt him. Waving off that suspicion since he didn’t exactly wanna think, let alone talk about it right now, he moved to help her start cleaning up and storing what few leftovers remained. Either way, he’d to get up early for that, then to meet up with Jeremiah at the flip once he’d concluded business at the office and was free to get as filthy as he pleased.

But as he settled on the couch since he’d given up his bed for Aerin, he found that sleep was long in coming since he was so curious about her and her own background.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Annnnd_ here's a link to the house that Ash's supposed to actually live in, folks!  
> ~Firefly
> 
> Link to Ash's House–https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9623-Deer-Track-Ct-Brentwood-TN-37027/52023712_zpid/?


	4. Three

Considering how early she’d gone to bed the Night before, Aerin wasn’t surprised when she found herself wide awake around four-thirty the Morn after she’d been picked up by none other than one of her favorite bassists. She’d been quiet about getting up and getting dressed, which’d included making his bed so it was just as pristine as before she’d pulled the covers back. But now, she found herself bored since she really wanted to go grab her bass, but knew he was most likely still knocked out on the couch.

Taking the utmost care to keep quiet, she managed to pad out to the kitchen so she could make herself a cup of coffee to help get her brain in gear. If it weren’t for the Keurig she’d seen on the counter across from the stove, fridge, and sink, she knew she’d be a moody lil bitch by the Time Ash finally woke up. Luckily, though, that appliance saved the Day by getting her her daily dose of caffeine–and without waking him up.

Glancing around the living room as she took that first sip, the young woman spotted his phone on the coffee table. It was laying just close enough that any alarms he’d set for himself wouldn’t fail to wake him up, and he’d be able to reach out and grab the device with ease. He hadn’t noticed, but she’d observed his pass code as he’d typed it in the Eve previous, so she already knew how to unlock it as she headed over to pluck it from the charging pad he’d grabbed outta his bedroom before leaving her to turn in. She just hoped he wouldn’t mind what she was about to do once she explained why she’d done it as she turned to head out the back door, which opened into what she’d have called a breakfast nook.

Quietly stepping out onto the back porch so she could settle under the awning that was set up over an outdoor furniture set, she made sure to close the door behind her. Hopefully, that’d buffer any noise she made enough to avoid waking him, but even if it didn’t, hopefully it’d muffle it enough to avoid startling him too badly. To that End, she settled on the love seat where she’d see him moving around through the window, but he wouldn’t see _her_ right off the bat without turning a Light on. Unlocking his phone, she quickly disabled the alarms and dialed the number she’d memorized over the past week before hitting the _Call_ button with her thumb.

_“Mmmm, hello?”_

“Hey there, girl,” Aerin chuckled, lifting her mug for a sip.

_“Aerin!?”_ The voice that’d greeted her so sleepily practically blew out her ear drum when it shrieked her name, which made her laugh softly.

“Yeah, it’s me, Aidan,” the young woman answered on a chuckle as she moved the phone to her other ear so she could hear clearly.

_“It’s ’bout Time ya got in touch with me!”_ Aidan admonished her. _“Whose phone’re ya calling from, though? I almost ignored the call since I didn’t recognize the number, as early as it is.”_

“Yeah, sorry about that–kinda had to take the chance while it’s available,” she told her friend. “The phone’s owner’s some shit to do today, and I dunno if they’ve a landline.”

_“Why didn’tcha ask?”_ said friend queried, sounding confused.

“Kept getting off-track last Night enough as it was, and they’re still–oh, never mind,” Aerin chuckled, cutting herself off when she saw a figure approaching the back door.

_“Never mind, what?”_ she asked curiously.

“I was gonna say they were still asleep, but apparently they’re up now,” the young woman chuckled.

“So, _that’s_ who I heard–and where my damn phone went,” Ash said with a chuckle of his own after stepping out the back door.

“Yeah, sorry ’bout that,” she said. “Figured I needed to call my bestie and let her know I’m still alive before she started freakin’ _too_ badly.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” the bassist told her. “I’m more concerned with how ya figured out how to unlock it, but we’ll talk about that after you’re done and I’ve gotten coffee of my own.”

“I’m more observant than ya realized,” Aerin laughed. “That’s really all there is to it.”

Waving it off for the moment, he turned to head back inside, now that he knew where his phone was and why he’d heard a voice so early.

_“Sounds like the phone’s owner’s a pretty chill person,”_ Aidan chuckled in her ear.

“Seemsta be that way, but then again, he’s prolly scared of me,” the young woman admitted with a snicker.

_“Introduced him to Karma and Kindness, huh?”_ she asked.

“Only Karma, and that was only ’cuz he and his buddy were holding me at gunpoint, damn it!” Aerin retorted.

Naturally, her friend wanted to know why on Earth anybody’d hold her at gunpoint, then decide to help her out, and she couldn’t help the grin on her face as she filled her in. She wouldn’t give away _who_ was helping her–and therefore owned the phone she was using–outta Respect for their privacy, though. Then again, even if it _hadn’t_ been Ash, she’d have still behaved that way since that was what she always did before leaving home. Considering who was involved and how ridiculously tight-lipped they’d gotten in recent Years, though, she definitely didn’t wanna give away too much without permission.

Aidan was cool with her friend’s lack of detail on that note, ’cuz she was the same way due to her own job being funny about that kinda thing. That also included what got posted on social media, whether it was Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or anything else was wasn’t quite as well-known. In fact, that even included the amateur authors’ site that’d been their original meeting point in the first place, for that matter.

It wasn’t long before she was wrapping up her phone call as Ash stepped back out, this Time dressed and holding a coffee mug in one hand. Her friend insisted that she either find out whether they’d a landline she could use, if she wasn’t gonna stay in touch through Facebook or something, or find a way to con them into paying her phone bill for her. She promised that she would before bidding her goodbye so she could go back to sleep for a while longer, considering it was a Day off for her.

“I’m guessing your friend’s been worried aboutcha?” the bassist asked as he settled on the couch across from her.

“She’s the only one who knew I was even leaving,” Aerin answered, raising her mug to kill off her coffee.

“Why didn’tcha call her before now, if ya don’t mind my asking?” He couldn’t help the yawn he let out moments later since he was still in the process of waking up.

“Phone’s been outta service for months ’cuz I haven’t been able to pay the bill,” the young woman answered matter-of-factly.

“We can fix that when we go back in,” Ash told her. “Well, as long as it’s not over a hundred bucks, ’cuz that’s pushing the limits of my Generosity.”

“It’s thirty-five even, no tax, actually,” she laughed. “That’s assuming it gets charged the same way in Tennessee as it does in North Carolina, but I don’t see why it’d get charged any differently since it’s still the same carrier.”

“What carrier are ya on?” the bassist asked curiously.

“Boost,” Aerin answered simply. “It was the cheapest thing when I _could_ afford it on my own, and later when my mammaw’d to take over the monthly bill.”

“Hey, if it works for ya,” he chuckled.

“Right now, my plan’s unlimited everything, three gigs of the high-speed data, a month,” the young woman explained. “That’s really all I need, ’cuz I text more than I talk, and I’m usually on Wifi when I’m doing anything online.”

Nodding, Ash said that actually reminded him that he needed to give her the password to his network, if she was gonna have any Hope of accessing it. Whether it was for playing around on social media, trying to find herself a job, or anything else, it wouldn’t do her any good to figure out which network was his, if she didn’t have the password. She was quick to nod her own agreement, content to just enjoy the early-Morn hours while she’d a chanceta stay off her feet, if that’s what she wanted.

The bassist soon headed back into the houseta rinse out their mugs and finish getting ready since he usually tried to leave by six-thirty, seven at the latest. He didn’t notice the relieved look that crossed Aerin’s face as he left her alone for the moment, which allowed her to pull out her own phone and a pair of ear buds. What she’d gotten the itch to do, she didn’t normally do with auditory voyeurs ’cuz she was so shy about her abilities.

Once the ear buds were plugged in and her phone booted up, she pulled up the Music player app she’d downloaded and switched from her entire library to the page full of specific playlists. There was one song in particular that she wanted to hear at the moment, ’cuz it was the song that fit her mood and what she was going through the most right now. As she heard that opening piano riff start up, she pushed herself up from the love seat she’d been sitting on and moved over to the uncovered portion of the deck. Leaning over the rail after laying her phone on it, she didn’t even care about what kinda view she gave Ash when he Returned.

_“Well, I see him on the TV, preachin’ ’bout the promised Lands_ – _he tells me to believe in Jesus, and steals the money from my hands… Some say he was a good man_ – _Lord I think he sinned, yeah, yeah…”_ she sang, momentarily uncaring about being heard.

The young woman didn’t even notice her host Returning so he could give her that password and getting the surprise of a Lifetime.

_“Twenty-two Years of mental tears, cries a suicidal Vietnam vet, who fought a losin’ War on a foreign Shore to find his country didn’t want him back,”_ Aerin continued, her ear buds blocking out the Sound of him coming onto the deck.

The bassist couldn’t say he was anything short of spellbound as he paused to listen, and not by the delicious sight of her ass as she bent over the porch rail.

_“Their bullets took his best friend in Saigon_ – _our lawyers took his wife, his kids, no regrets…in a Time I don’t remember, in a War he can’t forget… He cried,_ Forgive me for what I done there, ’cuz I never meant the things I diiiid…and gimme somethin’ to believe in, if there’s a Lord above… Ah, gimme somethin’ to believe in–oh, Lord, arise…”

Ash wasn’t too sure he recognized this particular song since he couldn’t actually hear it, but he knew one thing for certain as she paused after what was obviously the chorus. This young woman was a talented vocalist, even though she’d a bit of a craggy Sound to her voice, which was something not many could manage. Hell, he’d daresay she was even better than Andy was, but he’d form a better judgment, if he could get her to sing for him again. After all, he didn’t wanna make that kinda judgment without hearing more, and therefore being able to get a better feel for her vocal range–which might just surprise him even further.

_“My best friend died a lonely man in some Palm Springs hotel room_ – _I got the call last Christmas Eve, and they told me the news,”_ Aerin sang, practically drowning in her memories, unbeknownst to her host. _“I tried all Night not to break down and cry as the tears rolled down my face_ – _I felt so cold and empty, like a lost Soul outta place… And the mirror, mirror on the wall sees my smile_ – _it fades again!”_

The bassist couldn’t help the wince that escaped him at the amount of Emotion in her voice, which was something his band mate _definitely_ couldn’t do.

_“Sometimes I Wish to God I didn’t know now things I did know then! Road, ya gotta take me home.”_ She straightened and threw her head back like she was looking up at the Heavens as she grabbed something around her neck.

Ash could only assume this long pause was for a guitar solo, but he didn’t dare try to alert her to his presence just yet.

_“I drive by the homeless sleepin’ on a cold, Dark street, like bodies in an open grave…underneath the broken old neon sign that used to read_ Jesus saves,” the young woman continued after about a minute, confirming his suspicion.

“Damn, she’s good,” he murmured, even though he doubted she’d have heard him.

_“A mile away live the rich folks, and I see how they’re livin’ it up_ – _while the poor, they eat from hand-to-mouth, the rich drinkin’ from a Golden cup… And it just makes me wonder why so many lose, so few wiiiin! Ha!”_ Aerin smacked the porch rail as she barked out that last word, that and her sudden Rage and Vehemence startling him, but making sense at the same Time.

Still, he didn’t move a muscleta let her know he was behind her, not wanting to startle her into stopping.

_“You take the high road, and I’ll take the low road,”_ the young woman sang, clearly switching from lead to a backing line for some reason.

That made Ash cock a brow, but he supposed she’d tell him her reason why, if and when she was damn good and ready to.

_“Yeah, sometimes I Wish I didn’t know now things I did know then, yeah… And give me somethin’ to believe in, yeah, yeah.”_

Giving her a few momentsta compose herself, given how Emotional she’d sounded with those last two lines, the bassist simply waited. Only when she tapped the screen of her phone, obviously pausing whatever she’d been listening to, did he raise his hands and start clapping softly. He managed to maintain his grip on the lil scrap of paper he’d written that password on, not wanting to drop it and have it eaten by the floorboards of the porch, as it were.

Aerin didn’t bother trying to bite back a wry chuckle as she reached up to pull out her ear buds at the same Time she turned to face him. She wasn’t surprised by the Awed look on his face, which was visible enough in what lil Light was bleeding out the windows behind him. It wasn’t any surpriseta those who knew her just how good a voice she possessed, and she was well aware of her abilities. She just didn’t tend to show them off to folks she didn’t know very well, which was why she’d waited till he’d gone back in the houseta start singing, even softly.

“I’d ask why ya stopped, but I could tell that was the End of the song,” Ash chuckled.

“Yeah, it was,” she told him with a nod. “Kinda hard to keep going, in that case.”

“You’ve a fuckin’ killer voice, though,” the bassist said. “If I hadn’t been so surprised by hearing ya sing, I’m not sure what woulda turned me on more–that Siren song ya were wailing, or how ya were bent over the rail.”

Rolling her eyes, the young woman couldn’t help an unladylike snort. “What’d I tell ya last Night, Ash?”

“I know, I know–bad idea with your hip acting up.” He couldn’t help a grin. “But I’m not gonna lie about being attracted to ya.”

“Yeah, well–you’re about five Years too late, sadly,” Aerin admitted, leaning back against the rail she’d just been bent over.

Not quite sure he should ask, the bassist simply cocked a brow.

“Five Years ago, if you’d have invited me back to your hotel room or asked me on a date, I wouldn’t have hesitated by a nanosecond,” she elaborated. “But now–well, let’s just say my heart all but belongsta a different bassist, even though I doubt I’ll ever meet him.”

“Who, if ya don’t mind my asking?” Ash closed the Space between them so he could wrap an arm around her shoulders.

“Ya prolly wouldn’t know who I’m talking about, and if ya _did,_ you’d prolly question my taste in guys,” the young woman told him.

“Well, ya were at least once attracted to me, and my Past’s definitely checkered,” he shot back. “Not sure it could get much worse than that.”

“Considering this guy’s old enough to be my dad–literally–yeah, it could,” Aerin said.

“Then who is it?” The bassist currently beside her clearly wasn’t gonna let this one go anytime soon.

“Bobby Dall.”

Those two words were the only response he got as she finally answered his question, and he couldn’t deny definitely being surprised. Ash wasn’t as familiar with Poison as he was with bands like Mötley Crüe and Faster Pussycat, but he still knew enough to know who she was talking about. Part of him wondered why on Earth she’d all but fall in Love with _that_ particular musician, especially if she’d never actually met him and prolly never would.

Looking up at him as she took a deep breath, the young woman admitted that she didn’t know much about Bobby, ’cuz he made his own very private Self look like an open book. But what lil she _had_ found out about him–assuming that what she’d read online could be believed, that is–he’d quite the similar Past to her own. Sure, it differed in a lotta ways from what she could tell, but it was similar enough that they could still connect.

In addition to that, she preferred her guys older than her–usually significantly older, ’cuz those older generations were usually raised with more Respect for women. She wasn’t saying that the bassist at her side didn’t respect women, but it certainly seemed like he didn’t sometimes. Then again, the same could be said about even the bassist she’d named, ’cuz she’d read and heard a few comments he’d made in decades past that made him sound like a total sexist Pig. However, she didn’t hold that against him any more than she held it against Ash, ’cuz she realized that men’d their sexist Pig moments every once in a while the same way that women could sometimes be total bitches.

She told him that if she ever got the chance, she was getting concert ticketsta see Poison live again, the Vehemence in her voice making him curious. Unfortunately for him, it was almost Time for him to leave so he could head to the APFI office, then off to meet up with Jeremiah at the house he’d found her essentially squatting in. Aerin surprised him by agreeing to tell him the story of that one some other Time, quickly taking the scrap of paper he’d come outside to give her. It was then that she shooed him off on the grounds that he wasn’t gonna be late due to her, which made him laugh as he rounded up his essentials and headed out.


	5. Four

_June, 2020_

It’d been almost a Year since Aerin’s Luck’d so drastically Changed, and she couldn’t have possibly been happier. Well, that’s if a total of now three things weren’t factored in, but aside from that, she was happier than she’d ever remembered being before. She’d a placeta call home there in Nashville with Ash–whom she’d wound up introducing to Aidan in August of the Year previous–and pretty much every need she had some and then some was met.

Not even a week after taking her in, he’d set up an appointment for her with his own Primary care doctor behind her back. Even though she’d been wanting to find out exactly what was wrong with her for Ages, she hated medical facilities with a burning Passion. She vehemently refused to go near one unless passing it en route to somewhere else–like when she took off to do their grocery shopping–if she didn’t have to. But he’d managed to wrangle her into his doctor’s office this one Time, and it’d proven to be a more beneficial trip that either of them coulda imagined.

While test results wound up proving her to be a case of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis that’d since dropped the juvenile, she finally had an answer. Judging by all the damage seen in pretty much every joint, as shown by the numerous X-rays and whatnot that’d been taken, there was no way she couldn’t have had it in childhood. Naturally, that made Dr. Collins curious as to why she hadn’t sought treatment before, which finally got her to crack and open up a floodgate. This was one of those things the young woman hadn’t told her roommate, in part ’cuz she was embarrassed and ashamed. But she’d known it couldn’t be hidden forever, so she hadn’t bothered trying to once she was questioned about it by someone other than him.

Ash’d been horrified to find out about all the ways she’d been abused her entire Life, but now her comment about getting sick of her mother’s in particular made sense. Unable to resist the urge, he’d wrapped her in a Bear-hug that was almost bone-crunching right there in the doctor’s office. On top of offering physical Comfort, he’d sworn he was gonna do everything he could to help her, even financially.

To that End, he’d managed to talk her into at least trying to file for disability benefits since it was pretty obvious she physically couldn’t work. Well, technically she still _could_ –she’d just come even closer to falling apart than she already was sooner than what she needed to. If that ultimately didn’t work out, he’d essentially become her sugar daddy long-term since she wouldn’t have a way to earn money, if she wanted that way to be legal. But luckily, Aerin managed to play her cards right so that–when combined with all her test results–the social security office honestly thought she wanted to work, but couldn’t, not that she was as lazy as she really was. Then again, even if they _had_ known how lazy she tended to be, they prolly wouldn’t have blamed her, given how much trouble her hip gave her most Days.

In just wanting to see the woman who’d since become his best friend happy–especially after his band finally decided to formally out him right before Thanksgiving–the bassist’d been wracking his brains big Time. When Aidan’d mentioned on a trip down from Missouri–although clean across the State from where _he_ was from, himself–how much she really loved Poison, that’d sparked an idea. He’d decided to start keeping his ears peeled more, and the woman who’d since become his girlfriend had agreed to help him.

Six months after meeting the brunette who was now more like the baby sister he’d never had growing up, Ash’d heard what he’d been wanting to hear. On the Morn of December fourth, as he was headed into the APFI office, he heard an announcement on the SiriusXM _Volume_ channel. According to what he heard, Mötley Crüe was supposed to be not only getting back together after literally blowing up a contract they’d signed in 2014, but headlining what they were calling the _Stadium Tour_ the following Summer. Their openers in order of who went on first were supposed to be Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Poison, and finally Def Leppard. In all Honesty, he couldn’t have cared less about Joan Jett and Def Leppard, but Poison and especially Mötley Crüe…?

When he’d gotten home that Eve and told Aidan–who was visiting from Missouri again–and his best friend, they’d both gotten pretty excited. As it turned out, they all tended to go for more eighties hair Metal than they didn’t, even though the latter was closeta a decade younger than him and the ginger he was dating. The reaction that’d taken the cake, though, was Aerin’s, considering how she’d nearly given herself double black eyes.

Unfortunately, with the outbreak of what said brunette woman’d taken to calling _Godzilla Flu_ back in January, any Summer tours were uncertain due to the whole fuckin’ Planet practically grinding to a halt. Once things started reopening at various points in May, they’d started holding out a lil more Hope, but not very much. It was a good thing they _hadn’t_ held out too much hope, though, as proven by the announcement made by the bands in question on either the thirtieth or June first. They’d decided to postpone the _Stadium Tour_ till the Summer of 2021 for the Health and safety of themselves _and_ their fans.

“Just ’cuz I get _why_ they did it doesn’t mean I’ve to _like it,”_ Aerin groused, much to the other couple’s amusement. “What?”

“You’re just cute when you’re mad,” the bassist chuckled, an arm wrapped around his girlfriend.

“Till I’m threatening to gutcha like a Fish with Karma,” she retorted. “Or even Kindness, if I’m in a relatively good mood.”

Ash shivered as he recalled the Swords she’d had with her the Day he’d found her–which she’d since told him she’d named Karma and Kindness.

“I mean, I’ve stated my opinion before,” the young woman sighed. “Locking everybody up like this is just gonna cause the case numbersta go through the roof once everything starts opening back up, and _nobody’s_ gonna have any immunity to it.”

“Especially if they’re on some kinda immuno-suppressant to start with,” Aidan agreed, nodding Sagely.

“Fuckin’ thank you– _somebody_ fuckin’ gets it!” Aerin flopped backward so she was sprawled out on the couch, and a Year ago, he mighta been distracted by her legs being wide open.

“Never said even I didn’t get it,” he told them. “But at the same Time, I also know from experience how easy it can be to get sick with just a cold, or something as stupid as food poisoning on the road.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, Mr. Big-Shot Rock Star,” she shot back, deftly raising both middle fingers without even sitting up. “Like I said, I get _why_ –I just don’t have to like it.”

“Fair enough,” his girlfriend chuckled. “’Cuz I getcha on that one, girl.”

Finally pushing herself upright again, she locked eyes with the bassist. “Gimme another hit, then we gotta find something to fuckin’ _doooo,_ now that everything’s starting to open up again! Being locked away by force’s totally different than just being a recluse by choice!”

“Another hit?” Aidan looked disturbed as she turned her attention to her. “Another hit of _what?”_

Laughing, Ash told her to give him a minute to drag out what he needed, and he’d be more than glad to do just that. Neither’d told the ginger Tom Keifer look-alike he’d started dating that he’d been the one to do all the tats the younger woman now sported, which she hadn’t had when he’d originally found her. Granted, if she was any kinda fan of his like she’d said she was, she shoulda known he was actually a damn good and licensed tattoo artist who actually did a lotta his own work, as long as he could reach the spot he wanted it in.

Dragging his gear out to the living room since that was usually easier, he was quick to get himself set up since he knew the next tat she wanted. On either shoulder blade, he’d already done a couple Faeries that she’d found online and somewhat redone to suit her own tastes, mostly in style and Color. The Faerie on her left shoulder blade had originally been Rose-themed, but she’d been quick to Change that to Tiger Lilies–her other favorite Flower–for a reason. She’d decided she basically wanted a Rose vine whose stem was made outta barbed wire running down her arms from her shouldersta the backs of her hands, Roses strategically interspersed so one couldn’t tell it was barbed wire till they were up close.

On either of her hips so that they’d have been a couple inches below her navel, had they been Centered, he’d done a Crescent Moon. They were both turned so the tips were facing outward, toward the wings of her pelvis, ’cuz they’d a specific meaning to her. Aerin swore up and down that–when combined with her navel–they made up something she called the _Triple Goddess,_ and if they were turned to face inward, they wouldn’t hold the same meaning. According to her, the one on her right hip stood for something she called the _Maiden,_ the one on her left hip standing for the _Crone_. Her navel was supposed to be a bit of a fill-in for the Full Moon, which she said stood for something called the _Mother_.

Aidan watched in morbid fascination as their friend stripped so that she was able to let out her inner nudist for a bit. She was a bit perturbed by that fact, but it’d been made clear pretty quickly that she’d Donkey-kick the bassist in the head, if he so much as smarted off about her being gorgeous. But considering what he was about to do and where the tat was supposed to go, it was better that she be in at least her underwear.

“The pain got to be too much, even for her, before I could finish these,” he explained, ghosting his black-gloved fingertip over one of those Crescent Moons.

“With all that intricate knot work and shit in each of them, I can see how and why,” the ginger said, settling on the coffee table so she could watch without being in his way.

“This is why they’re so big,” Ash told her, holding up the template he was about to set.

She leaned a bit closer, Awed by the artistry that’d to go in something like the Wood detail of whatever the Roses appeared to be growing from.

“It’s a Triquetra,” Aerin told her. “Think of it kinda like a three-sided Infinity symbol.”

“Huh.” Aidan couldn’t help her Curiosity as she watched her boyfriend actually get the template placed so that it was cradled by the Crescent Moon on her right hip.

“The Triquetra’s constructed of one continuous line interweaving around itself, symbolizing no Beginning or End, an Eternal Spiritual Life,” the young woman explained. “While these’re just a few meanings, the Triquetra symbolizes the three faces of the Goddess– _Maiden, Mother,_ and _Crone_ –as well as the Balance of mind, body, and Spirit. Not only that, but it represents the Power of Three and the Divine feminine.”

“Didn’tcha say it was also a form of Celtic knot work?” Ash asked, diligent in his task as he moved on to getting a mirror image placed so it was cradled by the Crescent Moon on her left hip.

“That, I did,” she answered, biting back her laughter till after he’d gotten the template placed so she wouldn’t mess him up. “Add a Circle to it, and it become s a Protective symbol like the Pentagram does when it’s Transformed into a Pentacle.”

“Still not too sure how I feel about my man seeing our friend buck-nekkid, though,” the ginger chuckled.

“Bah, he’s seen me nekkid more Times than either of us care to count!” Aerin laughed, nodding her approval of the placement.

“Kinda can’t be helped, if she decidesta go skinny-dipping or out to her Sacred Circle at Midnight and strip,” he agreed with a chuckle of his own.

“Besides, I’d like to see _you_ get a pair of panties or boxers either one pulled down low enough for him to work and still be comfy!” the young woman told her.

Laughing as she admitted that they both’d very valid points, Aidan sat back to watch as her boyfriend actually fired up his tattoo gun. She’d never actually seen someone else get a tat done, and she certainly hadn’t had the Courage to try it for herself after some of the horror stories she’d heard. But those things aside, she loved the look on her man’s face when he was concentrating on something as hard as he did when trying not to mess up something that’d be permanent like this.

It took him a couple hours, but Ash was actually quicker about not only the black outlines, but filling in all the Colors than she’d have thought he’d be. Then again, he’d been doing this for several Years, from what he’d told both of them, so maybe she shouldn’t have been quite so surprised. As he wiped off the last of the excess ink, he appraised his work with a critical eye before deeming it done and preparing to clean up his gear.

Rising from the couch, Aerin headed off to the bathroom just off the kitchen, which opened up into not just the hallway where the pantry was, but the entertainment room, as well. At least in there, she could use the glass shower door as a full-body mirror since trying to look in the actual mirror’d be a bit hard with her short stature. Her only other choice wasta head for the master bathroom, or upstairsta her own bathroom, where the mirrors actually came down low enough that she might actually see his work. From what she could tell, though, he’d managed to do exactly what she’d wanted, and she nodded to herself approvingly.

“Looking good, from what I can tell in that shower door,” the young woman said as she waltzed back into the living room in all her nude Glory.

“Then get over here so we can get it bandaged up, then get your clothes back on,” Ash laughed.

“Clothes’re for squares!” she retorted, even as she stretched out on the couch again.

“Hey, I might enjoy the view, but I _don’t_ enjoy my girlfriend walloping me upside the head for it,” the bassist was quick to fire back.

“And that’s exactly what I’ma wind up doing, if ya don’t get dressed,” Aidan chuckled. “Or maybe I’ll just drag him off to the master suite for a while.”

“For the Love of the God and Goddess both, shut the damn doors this Time!” Aerin begged on a groan. “That goes for the office doors, too, Mr. Smartass!”

“The doors _were_ shut last Time, bitch,” he shot back with a cheeky grin.

“Ugh, fuck me, nekkid and runnin’,” the young woman groaned. “I’ma need a good ol’ dose of Bobby Dall and some fresh batteriesta put up with _that_ bullshit again!”

All three of them cracked up when she said that, although Ash and his girlfriend both knew they could definitely get pretty noisy when they felt like it. How she’d heard them upstairs in her own bedroom was beyond him, though, unless her hearing really _was_ as sensitive as she said it was. But they usually tried to keep it down when they knew she was in the house, if only ’cuz of a story she’d once told them about how her mother’d made her come to hate New Year’s Eve–as celebrated by most of the Planet’s population, that is–Years before she’d met either of them.

Once Aerin’d run off to her room to either _scratch her itch,_ as it were, or find some other way of entertaining herself, the bassist’d to fend off his girlfriend for a short Time. He swore he’d give her exactly what she wanted, but before he got distracted with that, he’d something else on his mind. The younger brunette wasn’t the only one who was getting more than a lil bit of cabin fever, and he wanted to rectify that.

Pausing in Thought for a moment, Aidan agreed that it’d be good for them to get outta the house for a while and wondered just what he’d in mind. Considering the kibosh’d been put on Travel unless it was absolutely necessary for so long, he was kinda entertaining a trip to the Beach. Their friend might professta be more of a Mountain girl than a Beach babe, but he knew she still had fun on her few tripsta the Beach as a kid. Well, for the most part, as long as even her kid brother wasn’t being some form of abusive with their mother refusing to make him lay off. Other than that, she’d always said that while she wouldn’t wanna live at the Beach, she didn’t mind the occasional vacation there.

Considering that he loved it and neither of the womenfolk’d ever been, Ash decided on looking for a placeta rent out somewhere along the Florida Coast. Getting Aerin on a plane without drugging her’d prolly be harder than actually finding a rental, now that shit was starting to open up again. As it turned out, there wasn’t much that he _could_ rent due to the aforementioned shutdown, but he managed to get lucky. There was a private rental posted by a guy whose name was apparently Rob Kuykendall outta the Palm Bay area. If he’d put the pieces together sooner, he might not’ve booked that particular rental–or maybe he still woulda, just for the fun of it.


	6. Five

_Melbourne, Florida_

A week later, fifty-six-Year-old Rob Kuykendall–better known to most the World over as Bobby Dall–had just finished cleaning up his house so it was actually presentable. He’d made the risky decision to rent out his guest room, now that the World was actually starting to turn again, so to speak. Just ’cuz several of the others he was supposed to be going on tour with in just another week or two wanted to call things off for another Year didn’t mean he’d to live like an inmate anymore, and he wasn’t gonna. If somebody happened to need a placeta stay while they were in the area, he’d let them have the guest room–it’d just be a helluva lawsuit for his kidsta file, if his immune system proved weaker than it’d been in recent Years.

Settled in his favorite recliner where he could see the half of his back yard _not_ taken up by the pool or its travertine surround, he allowed himself to get lost in Thought. It was the very same pandemic shutdown that’d Ended up postponing the tour he’d been so looking forward to that’d cost him his restaurant and all but left him trapped in his home for the last few months. The scowl that marred his features no doubt made his wrinkles all the more prominent for a moment, but he couldn’t help it.

He’d opened up his restaurant around the Time his band’s first _Greatest Hits_ collection was released so he’d have not only a way to entertain himself, but keep money coming in for his then-young family. After all, royalties off Past albums’d only go so far when it came to paying bills and raising his son–not to mention the daughter he’d accidentally added shortly after the restaurant’s opening. Ever since then, that establishment’d been a favorite for locals and tourists alike, thriving through just about anything thrown at it. Whether it was a Hurricane or the recession of 2008, it’d survived and persevered as much as its stubborn, strong-Willed owner.

But all that’d quickly Changed after this pandemic’d started back in January on a freakin’ cruise ship that–as far as he was concerned–shoulda been made to stay out at Sea and resupplied periodically. Maybe then, the virus currently wreaking havoc woulda stayed better contained, rather than being allowed to escape onto Land, then carted across the Globe on every flight that took off from an airport.

Jolted from his Thoughts by hearing the doorbell ring, Rob quickly schooled his expression into a neutral one so that–at the worst–he just appeared a bit tired. After all, that could easily be explained away by not only getting up there in age, but making the house presentable instead of welcoming guests into a train wreck. He still couldn’t help a groan as he pushed himself up outta his recliner, then padded off through the kitchen toward his front door. No doubt those waiting on the other side of it were the folks who’d snapped up the first listing for his guest room, and if he recalled correctly, they’d either a flight or quite the drive before their arrival in Florida. He imagined they could stand to relax for a bit before taking off to get started on whatever adventures they’d planned for themselves unless they were holding off on that till tomorrow.

“Afternoon,” the lone man on the covered portion of his front walkway greeted him once he opened the door to peek out. “I’m looking for a Rob Kuykendall.”

“That’d be me,” he chuckled. “I’m guessing you’re Ash?”

“Yes, sir,” the younger man answered with a chuckle of his own. “I’d shake your hand, but I’m not too sure how ya feel about that, what with the shit that’s been going on lately.”

“If I get sick and die, then it’s my Time,” Rob answered simply, shrugging as he opened the door wider for them. “If I live through it without so much as a sniffle–well, I’ll consider it one more notch to add to my bedpost of crazy, as it were.”

“I hear that,” he laughed, his stepping into the foyer revealing a pair of women behind him. “These’re my girlfriend, Aidan, and best friend, Aerin.”

“A pleasure,” the older bassist said, momentarily star-struck by the shorter, Darker-toned woman’s radiant Beauty.

Said woman looked like she was fighting to keep her jaw up before turning to look at her equally Dark-toned friend. “Bro, smack this bitch back into her cage.”

“Ya sure ya want me to do that, Aerin?” Ash asked, a grin splitting his face.

“If ya don’t, she’s gonna get me in trouble,” she answered matter-of-factly. “I’d rather walk around with a bruised cheek and have to say I fell–even though we both know I ain’t _that_ big a klutz–than do or say something stupid right now.”

“As MiLady Wishes,” the younger man agreed, still grinning.

Rob was more than a bit surprised when he actually pulled his arm back and gave her a good smack across her left cheek, which he was sure woulda at least dazed anyone else.

“Relax, Mr. Kuykendall,” the lone ginger of their group said, drawing his attention to her. “Trust me when I say that if she hadn’t been serious, she wouldn’t have asked for it–that, or she’d haul off and lay him out like he’s her size instead of yours.”

“Fuck, for being a short-stack, she can sure pack a helluva punch,” Ash agreed, dodging when she made to give him just that.

“I ain’t a short-stack, asshat–I’m fun-sized!” the Dark-toned woman retorted as she missed.

“Well, I can tell _this_ is gonna be a far more interesting week than I originally imagined,” he finally chuckled as he closed and locked the front door. “Let’s getcha settled into the guest room you’re paying good money for so ya can either relax, or head off on your first adventure.”

The one who’d been introduced as Aerin looked surprised for a moment as he led them over to the short hallway that opened up into a different room on each side. On their left was the door to the aforementioned guest room, which was really only big enough for a Queen-size bed. He was quick to offer his apologies, if that wasn’t quite what they’d been expecting, but he could squeeze only a certain amount into the square-footage available.

Ash was quick to wave off the apology, as was the ginger he’d introduced as Aidan and said was his girlfriend. Neither of them seemed to mind that they’d be sharing the bed, which wasn’t all that unusual for a couple, so he started not to think much of it. It was the groan from behind him that was let out by their vertically-challenged friend that made him glance over his shoulder with a cocked brow.

Rolling her eyes, the young woman said she’d just as soon sleep outside like an Animal than try to squeeze into a Queen-size bed with these two. It wasn’t about how much Space there was and whether anyone’d get kicked outta bed in the middle of the Night–although she admitted to preferring her King-size bed. Her biggest gripe made her say that she wasn’t going into detail outta Respect for their privacy, but she put up with enough of their shenanigans back home and was hoping for a break.

“Well, even though I normally wouldn’t do such a thing, I can always letcha sleep in my room,” Rob chuckled as he gestured toward the master suite–which was the next room over.

“Trust me when I say that, unless you’re more deaf than not, even outside on the back side of the house won’t muffle these two enough to sleep in Peace,” she drawled.

The couple didn’t even try to deny her claim as they shot her a shared mischievous grin.

“Oh, fuck–it starts already!” Aerin groaned. “Nope, fuck this noise–I’m out!”

The older bassist was a bit disturbed when she turned and hauled ass into the bathroom immediately across the hall.

“She’s a bit–ahem, scarred, shall we say,” Ash told him once the door to said bathroom’d slammed shut.

“Apparently, her mother once gave her a complex to New Year’s Eve, and now she pretty much applies that to _any_ Time of Year, no matter who’s involved,” his girlfriend explained.

“’Cuz it was bad enough hearing my _mother’s_ moaning, screaming, and all the smacking that Night all those Years ago!” their friend’s muffled voice barked.

Rob couldn’t help a laugh of his own as it suddenly clicked for him and he turned his attention strictly onto the couple. “Sounds like _my_ kids, whose rooms’re on the opposite side of the house from mine for a reason.”

“Well, there’s another reason for why she’s acting like this right now,” the younger bassist admitted.

Neither of the couple made a move to answer the brow he cocked at them curiously till after their friend had brought her bag back to the guest room, at least for now. Only when she disappeared again–this Time continuing through the bathroom to the exterior door that led to the lanai–did Aidan take a breath to explain. But he certainly wasn’t expecting the explanation he got, which was why his brows shot up nearly to his hairline.

She said that they’d all recognized him as the bassist of Poison as soon as they’d clapped eyes on him, but there was a reason they hadn’t lost their last screws, so to speak. Ash introduced himself as the former bassist of Black Veil Brides, which was actually a band he happened to like, as far as more Modern Music went. They said that they’d a more or less unspoken rule amongst themselvesta not treat any other celebrity any differently than they’d treat this younger man. It just wasn’t respectful to act one way with a celebrity, then a totally different way with another, which was something he could admire.

It was then that the younger bassist looked up at him with a dead serious look on his face, his next words taking him by surprise. He said that–while it wasn’t likely she’d prove it while they were here–Aerin’d more than just a case of the hots for him going on. While he wouldn’t elaborate on what he meant, he _did_ assure him that her admiration for him went far deeper than just what got portrayed by the media. And if she was living under a mistaken assumption about something, she’d gladly invite him to correct her on it.

Rob nodded as he made a comment about that explaining why she’d asked her friend to smack her, considering he could already tell he wasn’t usually one to raise a hand to a woman. Laughing as he and his girlfriend dug their swimsuits outta their suitcases, he admitted that he’d hit that particular nail on the head. His grama’d raised him better than that, and would no doubt torment him from beyond the grave, if she ever found out that he’d done such a thing. But when this particular woman literally _asked_ for some form of abuse–well, she wasn’t kidding or otherwise playing around. It was another one of those things he refused to elaborate on outta Respect for her, but he said that doing such a thing wasn’t smart, if it wasn’t asked for.

“Hey, I get it, man,” the older bassist chuckled. “I’ma pretty private guy, myself–I wouldn’t want my friends giving up all my Secretsta just _anyone.”_

“So we’ve figured out,” Aidan chuckled. “We didn’t quite think she was serious when Aerin swore ya make Ash look like the open book that Nikki Sixx is.”

He couldn’t help a snort, nor rolling his eyes, at the Thought of _that_ particular bassist. “Let’s _not_ talk about him right now before I wind up in a bad mood.”

“All right, all right,” she agreed, grinning as she held up her hands in surrender. “That announcement’s part of why _we’re_ down here in Florida, and we don’t really wanna talk about it, either.”

“Don’t even get Aerin started on it,” Ash chuckled. “She’s not normally violent without provocation, but she’s hinted at the desire to hold _him_ underwater in his pool with a two-by-four over that particular announcement a couple Times.”

The older bassist snorted as he bit back the urge to crack up. “At least it’s not _me_ she’s wanting to do that to.”

“Judging by whatcha said about not caring whether ya get sick at this point or not, I’m sure you’re one of the few who _didn’t_ wanna postpone the tour,” he said.

“Considering what an active guy I usually am, and what this pandemic’s cost me, I kinda _need_ to get outta my house before I go insane,” Rob dead-panned. “I’m tempted to start mixing up _Hurricanes,_ and I haven’t touched alcohol in upwards of twenty Years unless I was dumping it out.”

Chuckling as his girlfriend headed off to change, the younger bassist told him that confirmed what Aerin’d said about thinking it’d been the mid-nineties when he’d given up _that_ particular vice. She wasn’t exactly sure when that’d happened–she suspected around 1996, but knew it mighta been earlier or later than that. However, she was content with never knowing for sure since she’d doubted she’d ever get the chanceta meet him, so she hadn’t looked into it any further.

The older bassist nodded and confirmed that he was in and outta rehab throughout 1994 and 1995 before his sobriety finally stuck. It wasn’t till the Spring of 1996 that he could say he was officially sober, though, ’cuz that was the first Time since his teens that he hadn’t fallen off the wagon after a mere week. From there, he’d all but forced himself to maintain that sobriety so he wouldn’t get his son–and later daughter–taken from him.

Rob didn’t exactly wanna talk about those Dark Days, though, but he was surprised when his guest nodded and told him that he knew how he felt. While he wouldn’t go into detail, he admitted that he’d some Dark Days of his own that he didn’t like talking about, so he knew better than to be pushy. Not only that, but his Dark-toned friend would string him up and scalp him, if he were to do one of the few things he hated having done to himself. As much Pride as he took in his hair, he wasn’t about to let her do something like that to him, and certainly not over something so stupid. His girlfriend occasionally pulling it was one thing, but having it ripped out or otherwise completely removed from his head was another.

Just as said ginger Returned to let him take his turn in the bathroom, Ash’s expression turned serious again as he delivered a gentle warning. Apparently, this Aerin chick was stubborn to her very marrow and too Independent for her own good more often than she wasn’t. Even if it seemed like she was having trouble getting around, he’d be wiseta _not_ try to help her unless she asked for it, or they’d never hear the End of it. She’d make it pretty clear when she actually needed the help, ’cuz otherwise, she’d get pissed and fight them every step of the way.

Nodding, the older bassist turned and gestured for Aidan to follow him while her boyfriend was changing into his swim trunks. He told her that instead of waiting for him to open the bathroom door that led into the front hall, he’d just lead her to the other door that opened onto the lanai from the breakfast nook. The ginger nodded her agreement as she followed him through the foyer and kitchen, where he kept his word on leading her to said door. As he looked out the window next to it that all but faced the pool dead-on, he couldn’t help but appreciate the view he was afforded–and he didn’t mean that of his pool. Something about the young woman currently floating on her back in his pool made him wanna get to know her, and he hoped she’d be willing to talk to him when they weren’t out on adventures during their vacation.

A few hours later, after the man she knew as Bobby’d served dinner to everyone–including his kids once they got home from work–Aerin was curled up on the love seat in his family room as she watched TV. Her friends’d already turned in for the Night, and she was sure the oldest man in the house was getting an earful from where he’d set up his office in the formal living room across from the front door. She hadn’t been kidding in saying they could get noisy when they felt like it, nor when she said that she didn’t wanna be exposed to their shenanigans. After all, this was supposed to be a vacation for all of them, not a continuance of the so-called torture she was put through back home in Nashville.

The young woman refused to admit that part of why she didn’t wanna deal with it was that she was a bit jealous of them. One of the things she’d always pined for most, but never seemed to be able to find was Love, particularly of the Romantic variety. She couldn’t help her Jealousy at how introducing them’d turned out, but that didn’t mean she’d to show it since she was genuinely happy for them. However, that also meant they didn’t necessarily have to throw their sex Life in her face, whether Intentionally or accidentally.

Rob, as he’d practically begged them to call him at the moment, shuffling through the kitchen with a soft chuckle drew her outta her Thoughts. Well, outta the somewhat brooding ones, that is, ’cuz hearing that chuckle as he opened the built-in fridge across from his kitchen sink sent her mind down _other_ Paths. She’d been fighting the attraction to him that’d been sparked just by seeing pictures of him, which’d somehow only grown once she clapped eyes on him earlier that afternoon. And said attraction was already strong enough to leave her waking up a bit of a mess more often than she didn’t _without_ actually meeting him.

“Couldn’t sleep, huh?” he asked as he walked down the couple steps that led into the sunken family room.

“Usually can’t in unfamiliar places,” Aerin answered, shaking her head. “Took me a month to be able to sleep after I moved in with Ash last Summer, if I wasn’t drop-dead exhausted.”

“Ouch–I know the feeling,” the older bassist said with a wince as he cracked open the Water bottle he’d grabbed.

“What about you?” she asked curiously, not even hinting at having a suspicion already.

“Eh, just not tired enough for sleep yet,” Rob answered, shrugging. “I’d use the phrase _go to bed,_ but I wind up sleeping right here in this recliner more often than I don’t.”

“You’re just asking for a bad back doing that,” the young woman chuckled.

“Kinda already there,” he retorted, unable to help his grin.

“Yeah, I’d read about your neck online,” Aerin admitted. “Aside from knowing you’d to have surgery for it, I never really knew how much was actually true, so I pretty much took it all with a grain of Salt.”

“Whatcha mean?” the older bassist asked curiously.

“I’ve read everything from the original injury being caused by some vehicular accident in the late-eighties or early-ninetiesta ya broke your neck Sky-diving,” she laughed.

“I can safely say it _wasn’t_ from Sky-diving,” Rob chuckled. “I generally don’t like being up in the Air, and if I _am,_ I’m damn sure _not_ jumping outta the plane I’m on.”

“Ash couldn’t even get me on a plane to fly down here,” the young woman revealed. “I’m _that_ terrified of heights–like, that combined with the Thought of running outta Air gives me at least mild panic attacks, terrified.”

He couldn’t help a laugh as he admitted that while he wasn’t quite that bad himself, he’d known a few others who were–or even worse, to be honest.

“Yeah, I told him he’d prolly have to drug me and throw me in the cargo hold to keep me from losing my shit when we even stepped into the Airport,” Aerin said with a grin. “Crystal Healing might do a lot to help me, but I don’t think it’s gonna help _that.”_

“Crystal Healing?” the older bassist queried, cocking a brow.

Laughing, she pulled a lil black baggie seemingly outta nowhere, even though he was sure it’d been hidden in the pocket of her PJ britches or something. After all, she was wrapped up in a blanket she’d brought with her so that only her head was visible when he’d first settled in his recliner. That lil baggie coulda been hidden just about anywhere, whether it was in a pocket, her bra, or simply laying on the cushion next to her.

Pulling open the drawstrings after she’d untied the knot holding it closed, the young woman dumped its contents into her palm. Even though said palm was almost too small for all the Stones that came tumbling out, she somehow managed not to drop any of them. Rob couldn’t help the curious look on his face as he leaned over to get a better look once she let them scatter on the glass top of the End table between his chair and the love seat she was curled up on, one arm now outta her lil cocoon. Most of what he saw was black, but there were a few blue, purple, and even white Stones that were mixed in with those.

Aerin chuckled as she pointed out each Stone, her Knowledge seeming vast beyond her Years as she identified each and even rattled off a handful of its uses. She said she called this one her _sleep blend,_ considering that many of the Stones in question were good for relaxing and inducing good Dreams while protecting from bad ones and other forms of psychic invasion. Her other main one was what she called her _get-up-and-go blend,_ which was supposed to be as protective as it was motivating.

“I don’t tend to use that one unless I’m trying to motivate myself to get off my ass and get shit done,” the young woman said, dropping her Stones back into their baggie.

“I’m guessing you’re nowhere near as active as I am,” Rob chuckled.

“Oh, far from it,” she laughed. “I’ll admit that I’ve a lazy personality, but even if I didn’t, I still prolly wouldn’t be very active most Days–or Nights, depending on when I’m up.”

The older bassist couldn’t help cocking a brow at her curiously.

“Got diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis about six months ago,” Aerin explained, hiding that lil baggie again. “Judging by all the damage in my X-rays and whatnot, there’s no way it _wasn’t_ a juvenile case that’s since dropped the juvenile part.”

He couldn’t help wincing, his own joints aching sympathetically at the mere Thought. “And here, I thought _my_ knee gave me hell after all the decades of abuse I’ve put it through.”

“Oh, I’m sure it does,” the young woman chuckled. “But at least it seems like _you_ can still get around just fine without having to go float in the pool for hours on End.”

“Actually, I _do_ do that sometimes,” Rob told her. “Usually after I tackle the yard work, if Zach doesn’t do it ’cuz he’d to work.”

“Well, I damn near live up to one of the meanings of my name by practically living in the pool back home,” she said. “Otherwise, pretty much every joint from my waist down–especially my left hip–can’t take it.”

“Ouch,” the older bassist winced. “I guess that explains why I coulda sworn I saw ya limping earlier, even though ya appear so young.”

“If what’s available on the Net’s anywhere near true, I’m about halfway between your kids’ ages,” Aerin chuckled. “October of ’93, before ya ask.”

“Yeah, that’s about halfway between,” he admitted with a nod. “I’m not gonna give away their birthdays beyond that, though.”

“Hey, I get it,” the young woman assured him. “I wouldn’t have told the month and Year of my own, if I hadn’t wanted to, so I expect no less outta _you_. Hell, I’d be more surprised by ya revealing your kids’ full Birth dates than your own right now, and something tells me the latter still won’t happen.”

Rob cocked his head almost like a curious puppy as he thought about it before he finally spoke. “November of _’63,”_ he finally said.

Laughing as she shifted to take some of the pressure off her left hip before it started acting up again, she admitted that that was another thing about him she’d read online, but had taken with a grain of Salt. Just ’cuz folks posted shit on various social media platforms that Wished him a happy birthday on a certain date didn’t necessarily mean it was true, after all. She hadn’t wanted to assume that anything online about him was true without actually getting to meet him, but she hadn’t expected such a thing to happen.

The older bassist didn’t look the least bit surprised when Aerin told him that, if she’d expected anything, it woulda been a quick few words at a backstage meet-and-greet or something. And even then, she wouldn’t have expected them to hit it off well enough for them to stay in contact after that by a country mile. She sighed as she admitted that her Past with guys was that depressing, but said she didn’t wanna get into it further than that before she put herself _in a mood,_ as her friends liked to say. Her claim was that vacations–no matter where they were or who they were with–were supposed to be happy Times, after all, and she wasn’t gonna ruin theirs by getting down in the dumps over something silly.

Rob couldn’t help but admire her determination and grit, not letting her know that no matter how and when they’d wound up meeting, he’d definitely wanna stay in touch with her. Instead, he steered their conversation to the tattoos he’d noticed as soon as he’d clapped eyes on her, but hadn’t really gotten a chanceta see up close since he hadn’t wanted to invade her personal Space due to being blind as a Bat without his glasses.

Unable to help another laugh, the young woman pulled her left arm outta her lil cocoon and held it out to him so he could actually take a look. He was surprised when he grabbed her hand to hold it steady, both ’cuz he realized the Rose vines were actually barbed wire _and_ ’cuz said appendage was freezing. Glancing up at her as he complimented the painstaking work, he couldn’t help asking if she wanted the AC turned up a bit, considering how cold she felt to the touch. She was quick to wave off his offer, saying that she was used to sleeping in an Ice box ’cuz her friend did the same thing back home.

Apparently sensing he wasn’t gonna win that particular argument with her, he simply nodded and told her to let him know, if she Changed her mind. His kids both knew better than to complain, ’cuz they knew he didn’t have to let them live with him, considering they were grown now. Whatever decision he made went, ’cuz as far as he was concerned, he was King of this Castle and his word was Law around here. Aerin couldn’t help her grin as she told him that she’d expect no less, but she still wasn’t in the business of complaining over something so silly. Her mother’d pounded into her head Years ago that there was an Infinite number of layers one could put on and wrap up in, but only so many one could take off. No doubt he’d have choked on his Water, had he taken a sip when she said that, and her sense of humor only attracted him to her even more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the link to the house I'm using as Bobby's house this Time around. Not only did I want something a lil more relaxed since Bobby doesn't exactly strike me as a flashy kinda guy, all things considered, but the one I used in the original version of this story was recently sold. The only pics that can be viewed're of the front gate, and that's not exactly exciting–nor easy to work with unless I go and copy/paste descriptions.  
> ~Firefly
> 
> Link to Bobby's House–https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4089-Snowy-Egret-Dr-Melbourne-FL-32904/43478977_zpid/?


	7. Six

Around four-thirty in the Morn–which woulda been around three-thirty back in Nashville–Rob let out a soft grunt as he sat up. Just like he’d told the young woman he’d wound up talking to till around Midnight, he’d fallen asleep in his recliner like he did more Nights than he didn’t. It was just too hard for him to get comfortable in his bed, if he didn’t want his old neck injury acting up the next Day, which was why that often happened.

Sitting up so he could toss his blanket off himself, he grumbled under his breath about why he’d woken up in the middle of the Night. Having to get up just to piss when he was sleeping good was only one of his gripes about getting older, but it wasn’t like he could do anything about it. At least he wasn’t to the point of having to wear adult diapers or anything of the sort, which woulda been downright mortifying, even on a normal Day. Considering that he coulda always had it worse than he did, he supposed he should just be thankful that _wasn’t_ the case as he pushed himself to his feet.

Thanking his lucky Stars that he knew his house as well as he did, the older bassist didn’t bother turning on the lamp on the End table next to him like he normally did. He wasn’t sure if Aerin finally managed to get to sleep, or if she was still awake, and he didn’t wanna wake her up, if the former was true. She’d made no bones about it being hard for her to sleep in strange surroundings, and he wanted her to actually enjoy her vacation, not be so tired and crabby that she was miserable the whole Time.

Upon Returning to the sunken family room and settling back in his chair, his attention was caught by an irritable whimper from the love seat next to him. Now that his blurry vision’d adjusted to the Dark, he managed to make out the shape of someone sitting up, their knees drawn up to their chest. He was quick to realize that the young woman _was,_ indeed still awake, and prolly wouldn’t be getting to sleep anytime soon, if he didn’t do something about it. Considering what she’d told him earlier–not to mention what he’d felt for himself–she was still freezing from not letting him turn the AC up a bit. To that End, he took care to keep his volume down to avoid startling her or waking anyone else, but still finally spoke to her.

“Get your tush over here, girl,” Rob said, sounding more like a dad than he didn’t as her misery brought out the daddy in him.

“I’m fine right here,” she insisted.

“Bullshit,” the older bassist retorted as he let the foot rest up again. “I can hear your teeth chattering over here.”

Aerin didn’t actually respond, but she clearly started gritting her teeth or something since the soft chattering suddenly stopped.

“If you’re not gonna lemme turn the AC up for ya, I can at least share body heat,” he insisted.

“I don’t wanna invade your personal Space,” the young woman argued feebly.

“It’s not an invasion, if you’re invited,” Rob chuckled. “Now, quit making up excuses and get over here.”

“All right, all right–fine,” she acquiesced, unwrapping her blanket so she could get up without tripping.

The older bassist reached out and gently grabbed her hand so he could guide her over to him, knowing she didn’t know the house nearly as well for obvious reasons. Aerin let out a soft squeak as she felt him gently grab her fingertips, but didn’t try to take her hand back away from him. Moments later, she felt her knees gently bump into the extended foot rest, and she was careful about turning around so she could sit down.

He still kept his touch gentle as he pulled her down between his knees, letting her scoot back to where she was comfortable with her hips nestled between his thighs. Rob simply kept quiet as she squirmed till she was completely comfortable, which meant tossing her left leg over the arm of his chair so her foot’d peek out from under the blanket he took from her. Whether he admitted that he was already addicted to the scent that wafted from the fabric–not to mention surrounded _her_ –or not, he actually liked the texture of it. Normally, he wasn’t one to like soft, fuzzy things, but this was a blanket he could get used to with a quickness.

“Hopefully now, you’ll actually get some sleep,” the older bassist murmured, wrapping his arms around her once that blanket was pulled up to his shoulders and nearly around even her head.

“Hopefully, but I’m not making any promises,” Aerin told him.

He couldn’t help the slight, sleepy smile that crossed his face as she sighed and snuggled against him, her face all but buried against his throat.

“Sleep well, sweetheart,” Rob whispered, not even noticing the pet name any more than he really noticed the gentle kiss he pressed to her forehead.

 _“Buona Notte, e Sogni dolci, bello,”_ the young woman responded as she finally started to doze off.

His heat slowly seeped into her as he held her against his chest almost like a baby, locked in by the _über_ -warm blanket draped over them. Aerin couldn’t help another sigh as she readjusted her head slightly so that it was more or less tilted backward, which allowed her to breathe easier. She wouldn’t deny that the Sound of his heartbeat right under her ear was just as Soothing as finally getting warm, but that was only if she was asked. Otherwise, she wouldn’t admit to shit when it involved this particular man, if only so she didn’t make an idiot of herself by saying or doing something she shouldn’t. After all, she didn’t realize that the attraction was mutual, which was part of the reason he’d wanted her to join him instead of remain on the love seat.

Rob remained half-awake till he felt her finally go limp against him, her breathing deep and even as she fell into a deep slumber. He’d just let her think he’d already dozed off again once his own breathing’d slowed down, wanting to be sure she at least fell asleep for a nap. Once sure she was asleep, he readjusted his own head so his cheek was pressed against her hair, enjoying the fruity scent that wafted from it as his eyes drifted closed and he drifted off again at least.

About four hours later, Ash and Aidan were starting to stir for the Morn as much as their host’s kids were, said kids planning on hanging around the house today since they’d the Day off. The former pair were under the impression that their friend had wound up sleeping on the couch in the family room since she’d adamantly refused to sleep in the guest room with them. Even though they hadn’t planned on giving in to their sexual urges, they hadn’t been able to Change her mind, which’d left them shrugging and deciding to give in, anywhore.

Once he’d taken his Morn piss and at least dragged on a pair of PJ britches, the younger bassist left his girlfriend to do the same as he padded off to the kitchen. Rob’d told them to go ahead and make themselves at home, which included making coffee when they got up, if they needed it. His only request was that they keep quiet till they’d at least heard everyone in the house get up for a potty break, ’cuz he didn’t want them waking his kids at the ass-crack of Dawn for nothing. Apparently, said duo were more than a lil bit of a diva when they were rudely awakened, and they assumed he’d dealt with that enough the past few months.

As he stepped through the archway that led from the formal dining room into the kitchen, Ash couldn’t help cocking a brow at the sight he was greeted by. Zach and Zoe were both up and standing next to the half-wall that offered a lil separation between the kitchen and family room. Both wore confused looks as they looked down over it, and he couldn’t help his Curiosity as he crossed the room to join them.

He couldn’t help a soft chuckle as he finally saw what was making the siblings look so confused, ’cuz he already knew what he was looking at. The lump that was more or less unidentifiable under the black fuzzy blanket pulled up to Rob’s chin was curled up almost like a child or a Dog. But the thing that the pair of siblings didn’t seem to notice was the foot peeking out from under said blanket on the far side of the chair he sat in, and they already knew there weren’t any Animals in the house. To that End, he knew damn good and well the older bassist wasn’t cuddling the family Dog as he slept, or anything else of the sort. Not only that, but there was a body that he’d have expected to see first thing, but wasn’t anywhere in sight.

“Ah, leave ’em alone,” Ash chuckled softly, gently patting the younger man’s shoulder before turning back to the actual kitchen.

 _“Them?”_ he queried, turning his confused look on him instead.

“Lemme guess.”

Looking up toward the archway, they saw the lone ginger joining them.

“Rob’s all but drowning in black with an unidentifiable lump in his lap, right?” she asked, a knowing smirk on her face.

“Yeah, actually,” Zoe answered, nodding.

“At least he got her to sleep, then,” Aidan said, yawning as she settled on one of the bar stools across from the kitchen sink.

“Whaddaya mean?” her brother asked, still looking confused.

“Aerin usually can’t sleep in unfamiliar places,” the younger bassist answered. “Add in how cold it was in here, and I imagine she wouldn’t have gotten _any_ sleep, if she weren’t curled up with him right now.”

“She was freezing to the touch last Night.”

Glancing over toward the family room, the realized they’d accidentally woken the older bassist, even though they’d been trying to keep quiet.

“Why didn’tcha turn the AC up, then?” Zach asked as he peeked over that half-wall again.

“She wouldn’t lemme,” he answered, his words slightly slurred since he was still mostly asleep. “Kept asking her if she wanted me to, and she kept saying no.”

“That’s Aerin, all right,” the ginger chuckled. “Doesn’t like admitting when she’s uncomfortable or upset for shit.”

“Swears her mother raised her on the belief that there’s an Infinite number of layers one can put on, but only so many one can take off,” Ash agreed, sliding her a coffee mug before starting on his own.

“She said as much,” Rob told them as he shifted a bit. “Doesn’t matter to me, though–she wouldn’t be in my lap, if I didn’t want and enjoy it.”

The other couple didn’t miss the surprised looks on Zach’s and Zoe’s faces when he said that, his words followed by a soft, content hum.

“He hasn’t said anything like that since he and his last ex split about three Years ago,” the youngest man explained quietly once he’d moved closer to them.

“And definitely not about someone that appears so closeta our age,” his sister added, gesturing between them. “He’s always sworn he wasn’t gonna be _that_ rock star who practically married his kid, or even dated them, so to speak.”

Snorting as he bit back anything louder than a chuckle, the younger bassist told them that the only ones who’d ever let an age difference get to them were likely the two of them and Rob, himself. Their friend had made it quite clear that she considered age nothing but a number assigned by humanity, although she definitely preferred older guys. In fact, he’d seen guys Zach’s age try to flirt with her, only to be either gently rebuffed or damn near beaten into the ground, depending on how strongly they came onto her. Another factor was whether they laid off when she politely requested it or not, ’cuz _not_ laying off’d set her off quicker than anything.

Aidan couldn’t help a snicker when their quiet conversation was abruptly Ended by a soft gasp, which was followed by a distinctly masculine groan, from the other side of that half-wall. Even her boyfriend couldn’t help an amused snort, both of them knowing their friend and her habits pretty well. Both doubted that she was even awake yet, but no doubt she was making staying still a bit–ahem, difficult for their poor host.

Rob definitely wouldn’t have denied that, had the suspicion been spoken aloud, as the young woman in his lap squirmed. Considering the way she was positioned and had been since she’d settled into sleep, he couldn’t help that his crotch filled the curve of her waist almost perfectly. He also couldn’t help that he’d woken with Morn Wood like a lotta guys, both young and old, did–which was the reason for his gasp. As long as it’d been since he’d gotten any action besides what his right hand gave him, he couldn’t help how her slight squirming was affecting him right now. But he certainly wasn’t expecting the surprise he got as he woke up enough to actually take note of _how_ she was squirming.

The soft, irritable whimper that could barely be heard was what made him pay attention to what part of her body was squirming the most, as well as the rhythm. Not only that, but he realized that her right arm was now pinned between them, whereas it’d been more or less wrapped around him when she’d first fallen asleep. Looking up when Ash and Aidan moved to settle on the couch, he wasn’t expecting the piece of advice his younger counterpart gave him, maddening though it was.

“Don’t try to wake her up, or make her lay still,” he chuckled, raising his coffee mug for a sip.

“Even if it’s driving me _insane?”_ Rob groaned, trying not to squirm in rhythm with her.

“Nope, you’ll have hell to pay for the rest of the Day,” the younger bassist answered with a grin. “Wake her up right now, and she’ll seem like she’s PMS’ing, even though I’m pretty sure she ain’t.”

Zach and Zoe split for their bedrooms as they both finally realized what was going on.

“Typical kids,” the ginger snickered. “Don’t want anything to do with their parents’ sex Lives, no matter _how_ mundane.”

“Part of me doesn’t blame ’em,” Ash said. “God knows _I_ wouldn’t have ever wanted to imagine Nan and Pop going at it like Jack Rabbits.”

The older bassist couldn’t help a chuckle as focusing on what they were saying kept him a bit more in check. “I kinda don’t blame ya, kid–never really wanted to imagine my own folks doing that kinda shit, either.”

“Butcha know they _had_ to’ve at least once, right?” he asked.

“Thrice, actually,” Rob answered. “Got an older brother _and_ sister who wouldn’t exist any more than I would, if they hadn’t.”

Their conversation was cut short by a sharp gasp from under the blanket that was followed by a moan no doubt only muffled by his flesh. His expression shifted to a grimace as his entire chair jerked, the other couple trying not to crack up since they knew why that’d happened. Moments later, their friend quite obviously went limp against his chest, although they could hear her soft panting from underneath the fabric.

Aerin was content to stay right where she was as she more or sleep drifted between asleep and awake for the next few minutes. The only thing that even remotely made her uncomfortable was the hard ridge that was pressing against her side, which made her squirm again. She honestly thought it was her best friend since she was still asleep enough that she’d forgotten whose lap she was _really_ in–till that person actually spoke. Hearing the all-too-familiar, somewhat nasally voice she loved made her let out another sharp gasp and reach up to pull her blanket off her head, even though that action blinded her for a few moments.

“I’d stay still, sweetheart, or it’s gonna be my turn,” Rob chuckled, her face flushing bright red. He couldn’t help twitching against her side in anticipation.

 _“OhmiGoddess,”_ she practically whimpered. “I’m _soooo_ sorry.”

“Not like you’re at fault for something that happened in my sleep,” the older bassist laughed. “Kinda can’t help it, though.”

“If what happened went the way it normally does for me, that certainly didn’t help ya with your plight,” Aerin retorted.

“If you’re referring to all the moving and grooving, prolly not,” he chuckled. “But hey, at least _one_ of us got something outta it.”

The young woman simply groaned in embarrassment, especially when she realized her friends were snickering behind their hands. “Shut up, ya fuckers!”

“We didn’t say anything,” Aidan said, clearly fighting her laughter.

“I know what you’re thinking, though,” she shot back. “Especially Ash!”

“Who, me? I’m thinking nothin’!” the younger bassist denied, feigning an innocent expression.

“Bullshit, Purdy,” Aerin snorted. “You know me about as well as _I_ know _you_ –which’s a lil too well for my liking sometimes.”

“Hey, I offered to help ya fix that lil _problem_ when we first met,” he laughed. “You’re the one who kept turning me down and lost your chance by introducing me to Aidan!”

Flipping him off with both hands, the young woman finally flipped her blanket off herself and the man she’d been sleeping against so she could get up. She’d at least been patient enough to wait till he was only half-hard, if only so he wouldn’t be quite as embarrassed once she finally rose. Rob seemed thankful for that, even though he was quick to close his legsta better hide his condition as she headed off to the guest bathroom.

Said older bassist couldn’t help a relieved sigh as he let his head tip back against his chair, Willing away the remains of the boner he’d awoken with. Once he raised his head again, this Time grabbing his glasses off the End table next to him before turning his attention to the other couple, he repeated what he’d said the Day previous about this week definitely being more entertaining than he’d first imagined it’d be. They were certainly a Spirited group of friends, and while he didn’t want them repeating this part to their friend, he wouldn’t deny being highly attracted to said young woman.

As their host shuffled off to his bedroom so he could take a potty break of his own at last, Ash and Aidan couldn’t help the mischievous grin they shot each other. They both knew damn good and well there was no way in Hell Aerin was gonna make any moves on the older bassist, no matter how much Time she was given. If there was anything but her musical abilities she was shy about, it was actually flirting with someone she was attracted to–and the stronger the attraction, the worse she got about that.

The couple knew they were gonna have to intervene during this vacation, and maybe even invite Rob to come back to Nashville with them for a while since he’d said he needed to get outta his own house. If they didn’t do _something,_ even lock the pair in a closet together till they either kissed and/or fucked or simply killed each other, nothing was gonna happen between them. Not only would the young woman refuseta make any moves, but she was suspicious and distrusting toward men–and with good reason. This might be the best thing that ever happened to her, but she’d pass up the opportunity–whether she meant to or not–without being slowly worn down like Granite by the Elements.


	8. Seven

“If you’re as serious about being attracted to Aerin as ya say ya are, you’re gonna have to get Creative.”

Looking up from where he’d been plucking at his acoustic bass out on the lanai, Rob cocked a brow at the couple who’d joined him. His kids were both goofing off in the pool like they were at least a decade younger, so he doubted either of them’d hear anything that was said. The young woman in question was currently napping in the guest room, her sleep deprivation having given her a nasty migraine that her friends said would only get worse, if she didn’t take something for it and go sleep it off.

“Whyddaya say that, Ash?” he asked, moving to set the instrument on a stand he’d brought out with him for when he needed to give his hands a break.

“Aerin’s not like most other girls,” the younger bassist answered.

“Sure, she’s Creative, intelligent, caring, and loyal to an absolute fault, to name a few of her _good_ qualities,” Aidan added. “But she’s also–let’s go with _eccentric_ here.”

The older bassist hummed thoughtfully as he nodded, moving to rest one ankle on the opposite knee.

“Ya can flirt with her all ya wanna,” Ash told him. “But till ya actually _prove_ your Sincerity, ya can forget it going any further than that.”

“She could be so horny, she couldn’t stand it and her toys just weren’t doing it for her, and she _still_ wouldn’t sleep with ya,” his girlfriend agreed.

“So, what–she’s old-fashioned or something?” Rob asked, looking a bit confused.

“I wouldn’t say old-fashioned as much as wary,” Aidan answered.

Since he knew her better, Ash took over the explanation and said that their friend had been through enough bad relationships that she’d pretty much sworn off men. Not a damn thing about another woman was attractive to her, which was pretty much the only reason she hadn’t tried even a lesbian relationship to see if that worked out any better. But the young woman was stubborn about what she wanted outta a guy, and considering the things that topped her list, he couldn’t say he blamed her. He couldn’t help a chuckle as that garnered him a cocked brow again, although he swore up and down he’d stake him like a Vampire, if he repeated thista the young woman.

“She ain’t gonna wantcha for _just_ your body and your wallet,” he told him.

“Then what _is_ she gonna want me–or any other guy, for that matter–for?” the older bassist queried.

“Your mind, your heart, and your Soul,” Ash answered, his grin disappearing as his tone turned deadly serious.

Even the ginger beside him nodded as his eyes widened in surprise. “Those’re the things _she_ wants a guy for, but she wants the _guy_ to want _her_ for those things in Return.”

“She told us that she’s tried a few one-Night stands–and they do absolutely _nothin’_ for her,” the younger bassist elaborated. “She fully Intendsta be in it for the long haul, no matter how flighty she might seem at Times, and she wants whoever she’s with to be the same.”

_“Ahhhh,_ I gotcha.” Rob nodded as he relaxed a bit, now that they’d offered that explanation. “Works out fine, as long as I can manage to prove how Sincere I am, ’cuz I’m the same way.”

“Not gonna ask your reasoning behind that, but we’re all ears, if ya wanna talk about it,” Aidan told him.

Nodding as he waved off her concern, he said that he didn’t mind opening up about it, although he chose _who_ he opened up to very wisely. He explained that–after his divorce back in 2001–he hadn’t found anyone he’d say he actually wanted to grow old with. After thinking he’d found that in his ex-wife, only to be so painfully proven wrong, he wasn’t one to take chances when it involved his heart. In addition to that, he could often be pretty wary at first, and it usually took quite a bit of work to prove his distrust misplaced–which hadn’t happened since then.

“The last three or four girls I’ve tried dating were all between forty and fifty,” Rob admitted. “And I can guaran-damn-tee they acted more like they were Zoe’s age.”

“Well, at least Aerin’s the excuse of _actually_ being closer to her age,” the younger bassist chuckled. “But I can tell ya now that unless she ain’t feeling good, she doesn’t normally act it.”

“Hell, most of the Time, even I forget that she’s _not_ at least our age,” his girlfriend agreed, gesturing between them.

“Another thing’s that–like I said–she ain’t gonna wantcha for _just_ your body and wallet,” Ash reiterated.

“Which’s definitely a good thing,” he chuckled. “’Cuz while I’ll admit to still being a needy bastard sometimes, even _I_ need a break and want more than that. Not to mention I’d rather _not_ have another girl that blows my money faster than I can make it, especially what with having to shut down my restaurant for good.”

Even Aidan cocked a brow at that, clearly wondering what he meant.

“The long and short of it–I opened up a restaurant back in ’96 ’cuz I love to cook,” the older bassist explained. “That was one of the ventures outside the band that made me a lotta money, and I loved having it–even when I’d to step in as head chef, if I wasn’t on tour.”

“Sounds kinda like me with my clothing line,” he mused, nodding.

“Well, no thanksta this pandemic, I’d to shut it down for the first Time since I opened it aside from business hours Ending,” Rob said. “Eventually, the costs outweighed the income, and it just wasn’t a good idea to keep trying to bail Water outta a sinking ship, so to speak.”

“Yikes,” the ginger winced, looking at him through one eye.

“Pretty much,” he agreed, unable to help a sigh. “I mean, I can still afford my utilities and whatnot since this house’s long since been paid off, but that can’t be said for my vacation house out in Utah.”

Neither of the couple could help another wince as they got the implications of that, and why–aside from it simply being a Passion of his–closing his restaurant’d be such a hard hit for him. The older bassist nodded his agreement as he said that he wasn’t even sure about trying to open it up again in the Future, nor whether he wanted to keep that vacation house now. As much as he loved to head out West so he could chase his Passion of skiing, despite how much he loved the heat and humidity of his home State, he’d to think about things like a rational adult, no matter how much he did or didn’t wanna.

That being said, he didn’t need or want a woman who just wanted him for his money, and sex could get boring after a while, if it was the only thing keeping a couple together. He’d just as soon live out his Twilight Years a single man, if that was what he’d End up subjecting himself to by trying to date again. No, it wasn’t the ideal solution, but it was better than tormenting himself or letting some broad drain his bank account dry.

“I don’t blame ya there, man,” Ash said sympathetically. “That was part of the reason why I only did one-Night stands for Years.”

“Aside from just wanting to live the typical rock star Life,” his girlfriend retorted with a smirk.

“I mean when ya _don’t_ count that shit,” he shot back, sticking his tongue out at her like a petulant child.

Rob couldn’t help laughing at their minor bickering, but didn’t actually say anything.

“But still, I get where he’s coming from,” the younger bassist reiterated. “I mean, till I met _you,_ most chicks didn’t hold my interest long enough–if they _did,_ we were just flat-out incompatible.”

“That’s pretty much been my problem all these Years,” his older counterpart sighed. “Didn’t hold my interest long enough, only wanted me for certain things that were the polar opposite of what I wanted–yada, yada, yada.”

“Well, I can assure ya that Aerin’s definitely the polar opposite of that,” Ash said. “Her philosophy’s that as long as you’re putting in the effort, she’s staying–and she applies that to herself, too, by the way.”

“Duly noted,” the older bassist chuckled. “I guess I’ll just have to figure out how to start off, but still prove my Sincerity to her.”

“Our advice– _don’t_ go with the tried and true,” his girlfriend told him. “She’s a hopeless Romantic, even though she’ll never admit it, but she sees the typical tactics as either cheesy or insincere, depending on the tactic and who’s employing it.”

Rob couldn’t help a thoughtful hum as he mulled that one over, realizing that pretty much nixed damn near every idea that woulda normally come to mind. The younger bassist let out a chuckle of his own as he told him to pay attention to her tattoos, if he hadn’t already, ’cuz that’d give him some ideasta work with. When they said she was eccentric, that was really just hitting the tip of the Ice berg with this young woman and her somewhat _out-there_ tastes.

Deciding they’d given him more than enough food for Thought at the moment, Ash and Aidan rose from the outdoor couch they’d settled on to join his kids in the pool. They said they’d been thinking about heading to the Beach, but they’d wanted their friend to be able to join them when they did. Since she wasn’t feeling well at the moment, they’d decided against that option for the moment in the Hopes of trying again later.

Grabbing his bass from its stand again, the older bassist nodded as he settled it on his thigh, letting himself get lost in Thought as he started plucking on autopilot. Aerin was an absolutely gorgeous woman, and she seemed to be more compassionate and considerate of others than he was sure she got credit for. Even if she was more stubborn than she’d shown last Night, possibly even a lil more temperamental than some of her commentsta her friends might suggest, he couldn’t imagine how she’d be an inherently bad woman. Maybe giving up on that not wanting to be a typical rock star and just going for it was the thing he needed in his Life.

Rob definitely paid attention to the young woman’s tattoos once she awoke and rejoined everyone else, just like her friends’d suggested. One thing he noticed right off the bat was that the Faerie on her left shoulder blade appeared to be sitting on one of the petals of a fully-bloomed Tiger Lily. The Faerie was leaning forward with her hand essentially cupping the bud of another that was right in front of her face, making her appear to be sniffing it. In addition to that, he realized that the Flower in question’d somehow been incorporated into her dress, and even the bandana and lil flats she wore were the same orange that was associated with the Flower.

Leaving those in his houseta their own devices for a bit, he said that he’d a quick errand to run that shouldn’t take him long to accomplish. Pulling Ash aside on his way out the door since he’d been heading out to get something outta his own car, he told him not to make any plansta go anywhere. That included letting his girlfriend in on that lil Secret so that even _she_ wouldn’t get any bright ideas, but he wanted them to keep their friend in the Dark till he got back.

Unable to help the grin that split his face, the younger bassist snapped off a crisp salute as he told him to leave keeping Aerin distracted up to him. It wouldn’t really be that hard of a task, as flighty as she could be when she felt like it, so he knew that he and the ginger wouldn’t have any trouble with that. But another lil tidbit he passed on to him was not to bother buying rubbers while he was out, if he didn’t already have any. If he _did,_ he’d best keep them hidden in his console or something, ’cuz it was highly doubtful he’d be needing them tonight. He said that he didn’t know exactly what he’d in mind, and he was pretty sure he didn’t wanna–but whatever it was, he doubted it’d involve sex, despite what’d happened that Morn.

As he headed off on his errand, Rob couldn’t help letting that Thought bounce around his brain to the point that he’d have said it was actually making him dizzy, if his vision’d been blurry. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that the young woman was attracted to him, but it appeared she’d some serious morals about her. He didn’t consider that a bad thing at all, even if it _was_ a lil frustrating for him since he wouldn’t deny being horny.

Once he’d rounded up what he was gonna need for his idea, the older bassist headed back home so he could actually start implementing it. He just hoped that he could pull this off without making Aerin think he was after just one thing when that wasn’t the case at all. That, and without catching any lip from his kids since he knew they held Pride in being able to say their dad was a rock star, but _not_ like all the others who dated and married girls half their age. Course, when he thought about it like that, he supposed his kids’ opinions on the matter shouldn’t–well, matter, as long as he wasn’t being abused and/or taken advantage of. Love was Love, as far as he was concerned, and if this was the Beginning of it for him–well, he just wanted to explore the possibilities and see where it went.

“Back from your errand, huh?” The young woman he’d been thinking about so hard smirked from where she was once again curled up on the love seat, his kids lounging on the couch to her right.

“Something like that,” Rob answered, purposely keeping his hands behind his back.

She shot him a look he recognized all too well from having seen it on different faces in the Past. “What’re ya up to, ya Secretive Scorpio?”

The older bassist couldn’t help a laugh as he still kept his hands behind his back, but stepped down into the family room. “Nothing _too_ mischievous, I’ll admit that much.”

“Uh, huh–then whyddaI find that hard to believe?” Aerin asked, cocking a brow at him. “You’re up to something, and don’t try to deny it–I can feel it.”

“Well, then–no sense in trying to be dodgy, or beat around the bush,” he told her.

The young woman’s eyes widened as much as those of his kids when he finally pulled his hands out from behind his back, but for a totally different reason as he extended the small bouquet of Tiger Liliesta her. “How on Earth–”

“What–did I guess ya liked them?” Rob chuckled, settling on the edge of the cushion next to her. “Your tattoo gave that much away, if that’s whatcha were gonna ask.”

_“Mmmm,”_ she hummed, having raised the bouquet to her face. “Oh, Goddess–I’ma need a dose of Benadryl for theseta stay near me.”

The older bassist looked surprised, then apologetic. “I can go put them elsewhere, if ya want.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Aerin assured him, turning a grin on him. “I’ma be miserable, no matter where I go, if there’s _any_ kinda pollen flying.”

He couldn’t help the relieved sigh he let out as he realized that–even if she _was_ allergic to the misery-inducing shit–he hadn’t made a mistake. At least she wasn’t holding his _not_ knowing that particular detail against him, though, which he thought boded well for the Eve. Maybe he still had a chance at getting his way tonight without being too off-putting, if she was willing to forgive that small transgression.

Since they didn’t normally use their formal dining room, and therefore any pollen falling on the table wouldn’t be much of a problem, the young woman reached down into her suitcase. Rob couldn’t help his confused look as he watched her pull out a piece of ribbon that’d been stowed away in one of the inner pockets. That piece of ribbon got tied around the stem of the lone Flower she pulled outta the bouquet, and after that was done she rose with the fluid Grace of a Cat. He couldn’t help wanting to follow her and find out what she Intended to do with it as she headed for the front of the house, his Curiosity piqued.

In that rarely-used room, Aerin braced her knee on one of the chairs and leaned forward so she was somewhat stretched over the table. Looping the ribbon around one of the arms of the simple chandelier that hung over it, she deftly tied the ribbon around it. That left the lone Flower she’d plucked from her bouquet to hang upside-down, but not so low that it touched the table, in case they actually wanted to use it. He couldn’t quite figure out what on Earth to make of that, ’cuz he’d never seen anyone else do that with a Flower before.

“It’ll keep it straight as it dries out,” the young woman laughed when he asked her about that. “That way, I can keep at least one, even if all the others wind up in a compost pit or something.”

_“Ahhhh,_ I gotcha.” Rob nodded his Understanding, a bit of a smile playing at his lips.

“Now, I know damn good and well that ain’t the only thing you’re up to, ya devious bastard,” she chuckled, her eyes twinkling as she smirked at him.

“Well, if you’ll have a lil Trust and Faith in me, I was entertaining the notion of taking ya somewhere,” the older bassist admitted.

Aerin couldn’t help chewing her lip nervously at the Thought, but almost immediately stopped when she saw his gaze shift down toward her mouth.

“Aw, c’mon,” he chuckled. “Even if I don’t get anything else tonight, I can’t even get to enjoy the sight of ya chewing your lip so cutely?”

The young woman turned bright red from the neckline of her camisole all the way up to her hairline. “At least you’re aware that not every girl’s gonna spread ’em for ya on the first date.”

“Whether I’ve been duly warned or not, I’m not _that_ stupid,” Rob was quick to inform her. “Besides, if I was really Intent on taking anything that wasn’t offered, I’d have at least started grinding on ya this Morn.”

Again, she turned bright red as she recalled what she’d felt against her side.

“But it’s entirely up to you,” the older bassist assured her. “If ya really don’t wanna go anywhere alone with me, we can always take it out to the back yard where your friends and the kids can still peek out the back windowsta check on us.”

Aerin realized that he was genuinely attracted to her, but still kept in mind that he might want only one thing from her. Then again, if that was all he wanted, why would he offer to stay in a place where he knew they were very likely to have voyeurs all Night instead of actually getting her alone? Maybe his Intentions were a bit dirty, but still purer than a lotta other guys she’d been around in the Past, and that Thought was the deciding factor for her.

Rob managed to hide his glee when she finally agreed to his highly unorthodox way of asking her out on a date, knowing he’d have seemed more like a horny teenager, if he’d reacted too much. It’d been a long Time since he’d been that, and he wasn’t gonna act like he still was now since he’d the feeling that’d just scare her off by giving her the wrong idea.

He told her that she didn’t have to dress up or anything, but she might wanna grab her suitcase, not to mention her swimsuit from where she’d hung it over the fenceta dry. The young woman cocked a brow at him curiously, but all he’d tell her was that she’d prolly End up needing both before the Night was done. At least she didn’t seem to think that meant he was gonna try to get her to do anything she truly didn’t wanna, her right shoulder lifting in a shrug as she turned back toward the kitchen. Still, the older bassist couldn’t help figuratively holding his breath as he escorted her out to his car moments later, her friends nowhere in sight.


	9. Eight

It didn’t take long for Aerin to figure out that wherever this man was taking her, it was gonna be right on the Water–and she didn’t mean the nearby Indian River. Once he got outta the neighborhood he lived in, he’d cut a hard left onto the main road that ran perpendicular to it–which _didn’t_ have an entrance or exit ramp to Interstate ninety-five. From there, he’d skirted around the majority of West Melbourne, since he didn’t actually live in Melbourne, till he got to Highway one-ninety-two. That highway took them East across the Indian River toward a Town he’d been rumored to’ve lived in at one point, which was where she got her biggest hint.

Rob refused to tell the young woman riding shotgun with him where he was taking her, saying that he wanted it to be more of a surprise than it wasn’t. His cutting a hard left onto the infamous A1A–which was essentially Florida’s answer to the PCH out in California–was definitely a surprise for her. Still, all he’d do was grin as he said that she’d like where he was taking her, and if she didn’t, she definitely _wasn’t_ a Beach babe at heart.

Another five or six miles up the road put them right outside the heart of Satellite Beach, which was about halfway between Melbourne and Cocoa Beaches. He said that they were about fifteen-to-twenty miles away from his house, depending on the exact route one took on their Journey. This route happened to be the next-to-shortest one, but offered the most views of the Atlantic as they were heading down the A1A, which was why he’d chosen it. The overall shortest route took them more so through Downtown West Melbourne and other Cityscapes, which he didn’t think she’d find very appealing. She couldn’t help a laugh as she admitted that he was right about that as he started to slow, downshifting as he flicked his turn signal again.

Making a right-hand turn into what looked like a small parking lot, the older bassist drove right past the building directly in front of the entrance. He continued down to the closest End of the next building, which was where he guided his car into what was obviously an unlined parking Space right in front of where the brick walkway Began. Aerin couldn’t necessarily say the building’s exterior was the most attractive thing she’d ever seen, but then again, she’d never really liked what appeared to be stucco.

“Not exactly making the best of first impressions?” he asked with a laugh as he killed the motor.

“Eh, six on one, half a dozen on the other,” the young woman answered, making a _so-so_ gesture with her right hand. “Then again, I’ve never really been one for stucco, and all the half-gabled roof pitches’re driving me insane!”

Rob couldn’t help another laugh as he opened his door once he’d pulled his keys outta the ignition. “Not much I can do about _that,_ unfortunately–but I swear, the interior’s a helluva lot better.”

“I think I’ll save that judgment for when I actually see it,” she told him.

“If that’s what floats your boat,” the older bassist chuckled, reaching down to pop his trunk. “That’s gonna take a minute, though.”

“Ya don’t say, now?” Aerin drawled, following him around to the back of his car once they’d both gotten out.

“Ya don’t really think I’ma bring a woman on a date and there _not_ be food involved, do ya?” he countered, cocking a brow as he started grabbing bags.

“Gods, I hope not,” the young woman laughed. “Not unless ya want one like me getting _hangry.”_

“I’d rather not have that happen,” Rob told her. “’Cuz whether I’ve a chance at sex tonight or not, I’m too old for that shit.”

“Just don’t have the Patience for it anymore?” she snickered, closing his trunk for him since he’d one hand full and the other was leafing through his keys.

Shaking his head as she reached into the back seat for her suitcase, the older bassist admitted that between his kids and his band mates, his Patience with anyone getting _hangry_ was usually pretty thin. It was just one of those things that didn’t bother him when he was younger, but’d become more than a bit of a pet peeve as he’d aged. The same could be said about folks calling him _Bobby_ most of the Time–he generally hated when anyone called him that or _Bob,_ which was why he’d begged her, Ash, and Aidan to just go with _Rob_.

As he unlocked the front door to wherever he was taking her, he explained that he dealt with folks calling him _Bobby,_ if it dealt with his band, ’cuz that’d been his stage name for so long. Outside the band, though, it got on his nerves since it generally sounded too juvenile for his liking these Days. Biting her lip as she followed him inside and closed the door behind them, she debated telling him something not even Ash knew about her.

Taking in the kitchen they almost immediately walked into, which opened into the living room open-concept style and ran the length of the house in what was called _shotgun-style,_ Aerin finally made her decision. Making him look her in the eye after he’d set the bags he was carrying on the island that spanned pretty much from the fridge to the sink, she told him that she wasn’t bringing this up lightly. The older bassist simply nodded, his brow furrowed as he waited for her to explain–and that explanation was certainly a curve ball straight outta left field for him.

“The reason I all but latched on to calling ya _Rob_ –it’s ’cuz your stage name’s too similar to what I always called my pappaw growing up,” the young woman said, forcing herself not to choke up.

“I think I’ve an idea, but at the same Time, I’m not exactly sure I’m following,” Rob admitted. “Mostly ’cuz I’ve never heard the term _pappaw.”_

“Hillbilly word for _grampa,”_ she chuckled. _“Mammaw’s_ the feminine equivalent, by the way.”

“All right, now that part makes sense,” the older bassist said, nodding. “So, how’s _his_ name too similar to mine?”

“My pappaw’s full name was Robert Howard Crosswhite,” Aerin explained, not surprised when his eyes widened. “But rather than making me, or any of the other grandkids, call him _Grampa_ or _Pappaw_ growing up, he gave us free rein to call him by his nickname– _Bob.”_

He definitely couldn’t help his surprised look when she revealed that.

“Assuming your middle name’s actually Harry like I’ve read online, that wouldn’t be any better of a route to go,” the young woman continued.

“Why not, though?” Rob asked. “I thoughtcha said his middle name was Howard.”

“And it was–but he’d a brother named _Harold,”_ she answered. “I never met Uncle Harold–he died before I was born–but it still ties back to my pappaw too much, all the same.”

The older bassist couldn’t resist rounding the island to grab her in a hug, easily seeing how hard this was for her to tell him. “Ya don’t have to tell me anymore, sweetheart,” he murmured as he pulled her against him.

“If I don’t now, now that I’ve started, I prolly never will,” Aerin admitted, her throat tight as she practically latched onto him for dear Life.

He simply nodded, giving her a few momentsta collect herself before letting her continue.

Taking a deep breath, the young woman explained how her pappaw’d been more like her daddy growing up than he hadn’t. Unfortunately, she hadn’t realized just how much so till his passing going on six Years ago, and by then, it was too late. She’d to live the rest of her Life with the regret of not showing him exactly how much he’d meant to her while she still could, which was why talking about him now was such a painful and Emotional thing for her.

Rob almost wanted to stop her there, if only ’cuz he didn’t like seeing her all but torturing herself, but he got the feeling she wasn’t kidding when she said that if she didn’t keep going now, she never would. He also got the feeling that trying to ask her about the man later on when she wasn’t already in the mood to talk about him’d be a really bad idea.

As she finally let him go, Aerin refused to look him in the eye as she pulled out her phone, knowing she’d need it for this part. She reached up to brush away an errant tear as she told him that her last memory of her pappaw–while he was still alive, that is–was when she’d wrapped an arm around his shoulders from behind and murmured in his ear, _Happy birthday, ol’ man_. If she’d realized that was the last Time she was ever gonna speak to or touch him while he was still alive, she wouldn’t have gone to bed to sleep off the couple beers she’d had over the course of the Night. But she _hadn’t_ realized that less than forty-eight hours after his birthday, he was gonna be dead and gone, that the last Time she touched him’d be to check for a nonexistent pulse.

The older bassist winced at the Thought, trying to imagine himself in those kinda shoes, but he honestly couldn’t even Begin to. As he watched her unlock her phone and pull up her gallery, he listened as she said that–despite their obvious differences–that was part of the reason she and Ash got along so well. While their grampas’d died drastically different Deaths, they’d both been more like their daddies when they were children, and they understood the pain each other felt on a level no one else could. It was easier for them to Comfort each other when they got to missing those particular men than it’d be for even a Romantic partner to manage.

“Part of why I won’t look ya in the eye half the Time, though,” the young woman sighed. “Well, just look for yourself and tell me whatcha see.”

Nodding, Rob looked down when she pushed her phone across the island to him so he could actually see what was on the screen. Readjusting his glasses slightly as he picked up the device, he studied the picture she’d pulled up, and he couldn’t help the surprise on his features. He certainly wasn’t expecting to damn near look in a mirror, although it was pretty obvious this picture was very old and most likely a scanned copy.

While this man’s nose turned downward more at the tip, actually looking like the Hawk nose common amongst Native Americans, it was about the same width at both the bridge and tip. His chin was a bit more flat than this man’s, and his ears also looked to be a bit bigger than the ones this guy sported in this picture, but that mighta just been an illusion due to the way his hair was combed back. The shape of their eyes were almost identical, as were their jawlines and the position of their cheekbones–which weren’t as high as Ash’s, but still decently high. Hell, even the shape of their lips–right down to the fairly-prominent Cupid’s bow–was similar, now that he thought about it.

Glancing back up at her, the older bassist rattled off the eerie similarities he’d noticed, and Aerin couldn’t help the slight smile that crossed her face. Taking her phone back from him for a moment, she told him to disregard the bloating that distorted his features as she pulled up another picture, then handed it to him again. He wasn’t quite sure what she meant by that, but it was pretty obvious as soon as he glanced down at the screen–enough that he’d have to be completely blind _not_ to see it.

In this picture, the same man he’d just seen was easily thirty Years older, maybe even closer to forty Years older than the first picture. While he could make out enough of his featuresta tell it was the same man, he was definitely far more bloated, like he’d spent the better part of those thirty or forty Years between these pictures drinking himself into oblivion. He also had a more rheumy look to his green eyes than he did in the first picture, so he wasn’t quite sure where she was going with this one. As he handed his phone back to her again, his brow furrowed and he told her as much, which made her laugh as she took the device.

“The point’s that–aside from that obvious bloating–ya _still_ look like him, even now,” the young woman said. “That’s why I toldja to disregard that part since you’re obviously not bloated like that.”

Pausing in Thought for a moment, Rob realized she was right as he compared what he’d just seen to what he saw when he looked in the mirror every Day. “Ya know, you’re actually right about that.”

“I’m not saying ya coulda been his twin, or that you’re his son–although Gods know ya damn well _coulda_ been–but the similarities’re there,” she told him, unable to suppress a shiver. “Ugh, bad mental image there–I need brain bleach!”

“Whaddaya mean by that?” the older bassist queried, unable to help a chuckle at her reaction.

“I mean that going by your age, biologically-speaking, my pappaw _coulda_ been your dad,” Aerin elaborated. “He’d have been eighteen, if I did the math right.”

“Oh, God!” he laughed, suddenly getting where she was going. “Yeah, that’d just be wrong on _soooo_ many levels, if it turned out I’d the hots for my niece!”

“Hence why I said I need brain bleach now,” the young woman told him. “That, or to start my purge-Day drinking a few months early.”

 _“Purge-Day drinking?_ All right, that’s a new one on me,” Rob said, finally moving to wash his hands so he could start on the dinner he’d planned for their date.

Settling on one of the bar stools on the other side of the peninsula counter so she was outta his way, but didn’t have to scream from across the room, she gladly explained what she meant. It was rare for her to drink, take a narcotic, or anything of the sort, ’cuz she normally didn’t like the way being drunk or floating on something like a painkiller made her feel. But there were three Days outta the three hundred and sixty-five that made up a Year that she considered her exception unless under dire circumstances, which was pretty much the only Time she’d take the painkiller she’d been prescribed long-term for her arthritis.

Aerin explained that her own birthday, that of her beloved pappaw, and the anniversary of his Death were all one Day after another. She finally revealed exactly when her birthday was, then said that Bob Crosswhite’d always made the joke about her mother couldn’t have held her in for another Day so he’d get a helluva birthday present.

Remembering what she’d said about how the man hadn’t lived a full forty-eight hours after his birthday, Rob started to get what she meant now. He glanced up at her as he said that when she called them her _purge Days,_ she meant that she’d start drinking as a way of loosening up and letting out anything she’d bottled up all Year. Nodding, she confirmed that most of what she let out revolved around missing her pappaw, but it still made her let out just about anything else, too.

“I’ll admit that I’ma cheap drunk–doesn’t take more than three shotsta get me drunk enough that I know to cut myself off before I wind up in trouble,” the young woman chuckled.

“Damn, seriously?” he asked with a laugh.

“I’m dead serious,” Aerin told him. “Ash didn’t believe me when I told him that the Day I met him last Summer, but he found out once October rolled around and I proved it to him.”

The older bassist simply whistled before glancing back down to make sure he didn’t chop off a finger.

“But other than those three Days, I’m pretty much as straight-edge as they come,” she admitted. “Like I said, I don’t like the way it makes me feel, so I don’t usually do it.”

“I was always the same way with coke and other uppers back in the Day,” Rob revealed. “I mean, it was the eighties–I can’t name a single person who didn’t at least _try_ the shit.”

“Somehow, I ain’t surprised by that,” the young woman said.

“I guess it’s ’cuz I’m usually so full of Energy on my own,” he told her, shrugging. “Made me feel _too_ amped, and the heart palpitations weren’t fun, either.”

“I don’t imagine they _would_ be,” Aerin agreed. “Goddess knows _I_ don’t like ’em when I’m forced into using a nebulizer.”

The older bassist cocked a brow as he glanced up at her again.

“Ash finally got me to quit smoking in favor of vaping earlier this Year,” she chuckled. “’Cuz Goddess help the bastard that _doesn’t_ gimme my caffeine and nicotine in _some_ form.”

“And lemme guess–ya get some _nasty_ bronchitis every Time ya get sick as a result of being a smoker, right?” Rob asked, a knowing smirk playing at his lips.

Laughing, the young woman admitted that he was right and called him out on being the same way, as easily as he’d guessed what she meant. He couldn’t deny that she was right, ’cuz even though it’d been nearly twenty Years since he’d touched a pack of smokes like that, the damage’d been done. After all, he’d started smoking before he was even fifteen, and he hadn’t quit till he was in his mid-thirties, so it was pretty much a given that the effects’d still linger.

Aerin wasn’t surprised when he steered the conversation toward her almost constant use of the word _Goddess,_ which made her look thoughtful. That expression wasn’t missed by the older bassist, who was now even more curious than he’d been just moments ago. However, she was quick to decide that Honesty was the best policy, especially if they Intended to take things further than just friendship.

She made it clear that she didn’t give a damn what he did or didn’t practice in a religious sense, as long as it didn’t fall under the _Dark Arts_. With that being said, the young woman made absolutely no bones about being as Pagan to her very marrow as she was stubborn to it. It was one of the many things that made her too much like her mother for her own good, but something she couldn’t deny. Years of serious Soul-searching’d led her to that conclusion not quite three Years ago, and she was sick of living in denial–there was no way she was going back there, just to suit a man’s tastes.

“Basically, I’m saying wear your cross, read your bible, believe in the Christian God, whatever ya want–just don’t try to force it on me ’cuz that’s _your_ belief,” Aerin told him. “’Cuz I ain’t gonna make _you_ wear a Pentacle, read my Pagan books, or believe in the Duality of a God _and_ Goddess, just ’cuz I do.”

“That’s fair enough,” he agreed with a nod. “I mean, I’ll admit that I don’t get why some folks believe in a Goddess, but I’m not one to judge on that shit.”

“Just like _I_ don’t get how anyone could think the entire Universe was Created by a single being, male _or_ female,” the young woman retorted, unable to help a grin. “It’s so vast, I’d like to think it’d take at least two.”

“Ya know, when ya think about it like that…” Rob trailed off, his lips pursing thoughtfully. “I can’t say ya don’t make a valid point and be telling the Truth.”

“Well, that’s what I mean,” she told him. “Witches don’t convert by force–that’s just not our way, and never has been. We’ll educate those who actually wanna learn, but otherwise, we generally keep to ourselves unless we’re called on for help.”

“I’m guessing _that’s_ why you’re into that Crystal Healing thing?” the older bassist asked, finally getting his homemade sketti sauce going while moving another pot of Water to the stove to heat up.

“That’s exactly why,” Aerin answered, nodding. “I’ve a book about Crystals back home, and damn near all the ones I showedja last Night’re in it.”

“Might be one I’ve to get the title of from ya,” he said. “’Cuz I’ve been looking for waysta help me sleep–especially on tour–that don’t involve drugging myself stupid.”

“Easily doable, as is giving ya the site I actually bought those Stones from,” the young woman readily agreed. “’Cuz one source might have more info on a certain Stone than another. Hell, some sources actually feature a few Stones altogether that another might not, not just info on them and their uses both.”

“Really, now?” Rob couldn’t help his Curiosity on that.

“Well, my book that I mentioned classifies Ruby as a Protection Stone, kinda like the black ones I showedja last Night,” she explained. “But I read somewhere online that it’s also good for sparking Creativity, not to mention Lust.”

“Now, that’s one I might have to try, if only for the boosted Creativity!” the older bassist laughed.

Aerin simply rolled her eyes, even though she joined his laughter, ’cuz she knew damn good and well he was needy, for an old man. When she called him out on being that way, he didn’t even try to deny it, the grin that split his face more than a lil mischievous. He said that it’d definitely been a while since he’d gotten any action, which was prolly the biggest reason he might come off as a lil too much of a perv right now. But regardless of how long it’d been for either of them, that definitely wasn’t the only thing he wanted from her, now or in the Future.

Tabling that particular conversation so they wouldn’t get into something a lil too deep, considering how deep of topics they’d already gotten into for a first date, Rob kept a sharp eye on his culinary masterpiece. He told her that if she really wanted to feel helpful, flatware was in the cabinet over the dishwasher, and silverware was in the drawer between it and the fridge. After all, he’d seen the look on her face that screamed she wasn’t in the mood to just sit there and watch him do all the work, even though that’d been his original Intent. She was not only a guest in his actual home, but his date–and he never made a date do the dirty work since he was more than capable of doing it, himself.

Considering how gorgeous of an Eve it was turning out to be, the older bassist decided on dragging the small dining table and its chairs out to the patio. Since he still had a bit till it was gonna be ready to serve, he told her to keep her tush parked unless she was bringing the chairs out since he didn’t want her aggravating her hip. As long as he didn’t try to sleep flat, dragging such a light table outside, then back in once they were done eating wouldn’t bother him. The young woman saw no way to really argue with him, but said she might surprise him with something, if it turned out to be necessary later.

Watching the Sun set over the ground that all but blocked the view he’d _really_ wanted her to have, Rob got another idea of what they could do. Aerin was bound to enjoy a Moonlit walk on the Beach to _some_ extent, and he certainly couldn’t say that it wasn’t a favorite pastime of his. That’d have to wait till after the dishes were done and their leftovers stored to be taken back home with them, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone interested, here's a link to where I posted this story on the other site I typically use. Check the End of the same chapter, and you'll find a picture of my pappaw, as well as the one of Bobby I was using for the comparison made in this chapter.  
> ~Firefly
> 
> Link to _Chance Meeting (Rewrite)_ on Wattpad–https://www.wattpad.com/story/227676354-chance-meeting-rewrite


	10. Nine

“If ya don’t mind my asking, what happened to your grampa?”

Now that the mess from dinner’d been cleaned up, they’d moved the dining set back inside, and locked up the townhouse he’d brought her to, Rob sat out on the Beach with his date. They’d enjoyed a short stroll a few hundred feet down it, which gave her plenty of Time to stop of collect a few Seashells, before settling near where the Waves broke almost directly behind the house. But that particular question’d been eating at him ever since she’d opened up about her Ancestor earlier, and even though part of him wondered whether he should ask or not, he couldn’t bring himself _not_ to.

“Mostly bad Lifestyle choices that’d a domino effect combined with his own genetics,” Aerin sighed, leaning against him when he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “But I’m pretty sure _Agent Orange’d_ something to do with it, too.”

His eyes widened, ’cuz he knew damn good and well how the man woulda been exposed to _that_.

“That’s part of the reason why _Something to Believe In_ is so cathartic, yet heart-wrenching for me–but I’ll get into that some other Time since that’s not whatcha asked about,” the young woman chuckled.

“Sounds like as good a plan as any to me,” Rob agreed.

“But Daddy, as I usually refer to him these Days–it was a combo of different things that killed him,” she with another sigh. “Congestive heart failure caused by genetics and decades of smoking, COPD and emphysema caused by the smoking, diabetes–and therefore renal failure–caused by bad Lifestyle choices… Hell, the diabetes mighta even had some roots in his genetics that we never knew about.”

“Jesus, no Wonder he was so bloated in that last picture ya showed me of him,” the older bassist winced.

Nodding her agreement as they enjoyed the Soothing Sound of the Waves breaking–the sensation of it on their bare toes–under the Full Moon’s Light, Aerin admitted that it was a Wonder he’d lived to see the age of sixty-nine. She couldn’t help a laugh as she said that her running joke from the Night he’d gone to bed, never to wake again, was that he was such a dirty old man that he’d wanted to see the pervert’s number in age before he croaked. Even if nothing else besides simply knowing he was in a better place, wherever he went after his Death–that he wasn’t suffering and/or in pain–brought her any Comfort, she let that ridiculous joke do it so she could laugh when she thought about him.

The young woman went on to say that he was in such bad Health for the last couple Years of his Life that there’d been numerous occasions where she’d just wanted to be an angel of Mercy. Any Time she happened to pass by his recliner and find him asleep, his head lolled so his chin rested on his chest, she’d have to pause and stare at him. Not ’cuz she’d wanted to seem creepy, had he woken up and caught her, but just to make sure he was even still breathing.

“I knew what his breathing pattern looked like from doing that so many Times that that was how I knew he was dead when my mammaw came and woke me up in hysterics,” she told him. “Not the fact that he was blue as a Smurf–he’d some pretty bad circulation issues, after all–but ’cuz one long look at him, and I knew he wasn’t breathing anymore.”

“Ya said earlier that _you_ were the one to check for a pulse,” Rob said.

“I was, at my uncle’s insistence,” the young woman answered, nodding. “He was on the phone with my mammaw at the Time, and insisted I check for a pulse, even though I told him I wasn’t gonna find one.”

“’Cuz ya already knew the Truth, even if ya didn’t wanna admit it.” He couldn’t help a sigh as he brought his other arm up to actually hug her. “I can’t imagine how traumatic that musta been for ya, and Truth be told, I don’t wanna.”

“That’s why I can’t and won’t listen to the BVB song, _Lost it All,”_ Aerin told him. “That was the song I was brokenly singing along to as they were wheeling his corpse outta the house that Night so he could be cremated.”

The older bassist winced again, his grip on her tightening a hair. “Duly noted–ya won’t ever have to worry about _me_ playing that song aroundja. Now, Ash, on the other hand–he might be a lil iffy.”

“He already knows it’ll make me break down into hysterics, just not why,” she laughed. “Same goes for _The Price is Right,_ too.”

“Damn, seriously?” Rob asked.

“He watched it religiously every fuckin’ weekday,” the young woman answered. “I can’t even hear the opening theme song without choking up ’cuz of that.”

“I’ll have to make sure the kids and I don’t make that mistake when you’re around, ’cuz all three of us like it, too,” he chuckled.

Pulling back just enough to look up so she could see him clearly, Aerin couldn’t help the way her brows knitted together. There was a part of her that didn’t wanna believe he really wanted more than just sex from her, but there was another part of her that wanted to believe him. Considering the way her Luck with guys’d gone in the Past, she couldn’t help wondering just how sincere he was being now, and what kinda true Colors he’d show later on once he’d her right where he wanted her.

Rob simply Returned the gaze she pinned on him, knowing what she was searching for without even bothering to ask. After all, her friends’d warned him earlier that afternoon that she’d want any guy she was involved with to be in it for the long haul as much as she, herself was. He’d have to be a special kinda stupid not to expect her to start searching for that Sincerity in him, even this early in the game.

Luckily for him, the young woman seemed to find the very thing she sought just by reading his eyes, if the smile that finally curved her lips was anything to judge by. He couldn’t resist reaching up with one hand to gently cup her cheek, his thumb caressing her cheekbone as his palm all but engulfed the side of her face. Even though he wanted far more than this tonight, he’d settle for what he could get, rather than take the risk of scaring her off. Getting to have her in his arms and cuddle with her like he’d wound up doing early that Morn in his recliner was certainly better than nothing. Maybe it was akin to feeding a starving Dog scraps, but at least it was _some_ kinda sustenance for his overly deprived Romantic side–and libido.

To that End, the older bassist couldn’t help a soft gasp when she Returned the gentle gesture, her thumb caressing his own cheek feeling almost like silk. He knew his own hands–especially his fingers–were heavily-calloused from decades of playing guitar and bass, but that was one of the no doubt many differences between them that was a thing of pure Beauty. Lost in his contemplation of that fact, he was more than a bit surprised when he realized she was leaning closer and closer to him, that her other hand had settled on the back of his neck to gently pull him down more.

Feeling her soft lips meet his own was certainly a surprise he hadn’t been expecting, if only ’cuz of what Aidan’d told him earlier. He’d been under the impression that–no matter how desperate she got–this young woman wouldn’t do more than cuddle with him for a long Time to come. But those Thoughts were quickly scattered from his head as he let his eyes drift closed, a soft sigh escaping him as Aerin all but weaved a spell around him. The sudden sensation of her teeth gently grabbing his bottom lip and giving it an experimental tug surprised him even further, but somehow nowhere near as much as feeling her tongue against his lips seconds later. It was that final sensation that dragged a deep, guttural growl from the recesses of his throat as he pulled her into his lap so she was mostly straddling him, but not putting too much pressure on that ever-irritable left hip of hers.

A soft squeak met that growl as her weight settled so she could feel him, and there was no mistaking the effect she had on him. Rob couldn’t have hidden the boner already starting to strain his zipper a bit, if he’d tried–he was simply too well-endowed, and always had been. But just ’cuz he couldn’t hide it as he took the lead and led her lips and tongue in a teasing dance didn’t mean he’d to put it to use. He just hoped she remembered that, even as one hand drifted down her back to cup her ass–and pull her more snugly against him. There wasn’t enough money on the Planet that could get him to stop, if she swore she wanted to go further than this, but if she still didn’t–well, he liked his partners willing a lil too much. They were usually no fun, if they weren’t willing, which was why he couldn’t understand guys who forced themselves on women like Animals.

“R-Rob,” she panted after managing to gently break the kiss.

“We don’t have to go any further, if ya don’t wanna,” the older bassist reminded her, even as he panted just as hard.

_“Mmmm.”_ Aerin couldn’t help biting her lip nervously, which simply drew his gaze down to her mouth again. Unlike earlier in the Eve, though, now they were pinker than they normally were–even in the Dark of the Night–and swollen from the bruising kiss.

“I don’t particularly care, either way–it’s completely up to you,” he reiterated, grimacing as he twitched against her. “Well, I amend that to I _do_ care, but I’m not gonna force ya into something ya don’t want.”

The young woman’s eyes widened as she felt that twitch against her own most sensitive region, and unless he was mistaken, she twitched just as hard in response.

“I _will_ say now, though–ya better lemme up from here so I can limp out to my car, if ya wanna go any further,” Rob chuckled. “’Cuz a lil Birdie told me I wasn’t likely to need any rubbers tonight, so I don’t actually have any on my person.”

“Better hope you’ve a few, then,” she finally told him. “’Cuz something tells me your Stamina needs a bit of a memory refresher.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be surprised, if I embarrassed the hell outta myself at first,” the older bassist laughed as she moved to let him up. “Three Years with just my right hand doesn’t exactly do much to keep it up, after all.”

“Four Years with just a vibrator for me,” Aerin retorted with a grin. “So, it actually might not be as hard to please me as you’d think.”

“Well, we’ll just have to see, won’t we?” he growled, managing to push himself up, despite the raging boner straining his fly.

The young woman’s gaze was quick to drift downward, and he couldn’t help a laugh at how her eyes widened when they reached his crotch. Rob knew he was quite impressive when he didn’t have something like leather or denim trying to confine and strangle him, although leather and spandex certainly worked Wonders for showcasing his flaccid size. Said size was even more impressive in those latter materials when he could stand wearing them while hard as a rock, which wasn’t very often, especially with leather.

Aerin almost wondered just what she’d gotten herself into as they headed back up the forty feet or so from where dry Sand met wet. He certainly hadn’t been kidding about his condition making him limp, particularly once they started up the public access stairs, which made him wince with every step he took. Luckily for him, the poor guy’d a ramp to go down on the other side of the mini boardwalk that led to the brick walkway, so that part wasn’t as bad for him. But after that, he still had to make it all the way up to his car, if that’s where he’d hidden even a small cache of condoms, since she definitely wasn’t sleeping with him without them.

Grumbling at how he’d actually taken Ash’s and Aidan’s advice on that one every step of the way, the older bassist managed to limp out to his car. Thankfully, his overshirt hid his condition well enough as he walked, not that any of the neighbors of this particular house were out and about. Course, even if they _had_ been, he could easily say that his knee was bothering him again, and that he’d be fine once he got off his feet for a while.

With the half-dozen foil packets shoved in his pockets, Rob made sure his car was locked before turning to head back to the front door. His beautiful, young date waited patiently next to the front door, a coyly mischievous look on her face as she tried to feign Innocence. Another growl rumbled up from the depths of his throat and torso as he limped his way back up to where she waited, something telling him tonight was gonna be one helluva good Time for both of them. If it wound up putting more than a few Poison songsta shame by Dawn’s first Light, he could most certainly die a happy man. The only way he was gonna find out wasta get her through the front door again and hope she _didn’t_ Change her mind at the last second.

A hum and a soft sigh combined with something squirming against his side was what drew the older bassist from the depths of sleep the next Morn, and he couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face. He certainly couldn’t say that he’d been exhausted by a couple romps quite as much as he’d been the Night previous, but that’d certainly been the case. Since it’d been so long for him, he couldn’t help being raring and ready to go again already–despite his advancing age–as proven by the wayward body part his date’d quickly dubbed _Lil Rob_.

Running his hand down her side, Rob was careful to keep his touch gentle as he squeezed her ass, letting the position of his hand hide his true Intent to start with. He wasn’t expecting her to laugh and nibble at his ear like it was a tasty treat, which just made him throb with anticipation. But knowing that she was already awake was a good thing, ’cuz at least he didn’t have to worry about her waking up to something she didn’t truly want.

It wasn’t long before he’d Aerin reduced to a whimpering, writhing, needy mess in the bed beside him, which made him snicker softly. That snicker turned into an outright laugh of his own when she growled and gently smacked his chest with the warning that he’d better not tease her and leave her hanging like that. He was quick to assure her that he wouldn’t Dream of doing such a thing, but warned her that this round would have to count. Unfortunately, they were down to the last condom he’d brought with him, so without taking a quick trip or heading back to his actual home–where he’d more stashed away in his nightstand–they were either shit outta Luck or gonna have to take a big risk.

Shaking her head as he ripped open that lil foil packet, the young woman said that if he dared turn _Lil Rob_ loose on her without protection, she’d make him rue the very Day he was born. Part of him immediately knew that she wasn’t willing to take any chances with the possible contraction of a venereal disease, and he didn’t blame her for that. But the look in her eyes as he rolled that thin latex down his shaft made him realize that she’d another reason behind telling him that. He was just too aroused to think straight at the moment, so he decided to table that question till he was able to think a lil more clearly.

_“Nyah-ha-ohhhh,”_ she moaned.

Having rolled her onto her front since it hadn’t taken much experimentation to tell him that was the most comfortable for her, Rob was gentle about pushing into her once he was straddling her thighs.

_“Oooh,_ sweet Goddess alive,” the young woman mewled. Her back arched in what looked like a very painful manner as she tried to push back against him even more.

_“Mmm,_ so warm and tight,” he growled, reaching over to what’d been his side of the bed. “Arch your back a lil more, sweetheart.”

Aerin whimpered as she managed to do just that, sighing as he stuffed the pillow he’d grabbed under her lower belly.

“That any better?” the older bassist asked as she relaxed a bit.

_“Mmm hmm,”_ she hummed, nodding. “Goddess alive, don’t make me wait!”

“As MiLady Wishes,” Rob chuckled, slowly and gently pulling back out till only his tip was lodged within her. He knew she couldn’t help the anticipatory tremor of her channel any more than he could help an answering throb.

Another highly-aroused mewl rang out as he started a rhythm that both of them knew wouldn’t _stay_ slow and gentle for long. If he’d learned nothing else about his date the Night previous, he’d learned that she simply didn’t respond to that kinda lovemaking. For some reason she couldn’t name, it just didn’t stimulate her enough, so she’d wind up nearly falling asleep unless it was hot, heavy, and rough.

The older bassist’d also been surprised to realize that–unlike most women–she pretty much couldn’t stand her breasts, especially her nipples, being messed with. She’d winced and tried to squirm away every Time he’d tried even the gentlest touch unless he was suckling almost like an infant. Well, maybe like an infant was a bad description since they could get a lil rough sometimes, but that was beside the point. The point was that Aerin clearly didn’t like it, so he didn’t bother trying to employ such a typically-pleasurable tactic now. Instead, he choseta focus on other hot spots he knew she _did_ enjoy, based on her reactions from mere hours ago.

Her moans and mewls turned into full-on cries and screams as he tormented her neck and shoulders, no doubt leaving behind marks that’d scream what they’d been up to to anyone who cared to look. But he loved being able to mark his women like that, to stake his claim and show that they were his for as long as they wanted to be. There was just something about it that turned him on as much as having his hair gently pulled, or the sensation of a woman’s warmth putting his shaft into a bit of a vice.

Something else that’d surprised Rob the Night previous, which he employed now with a growl, was how much of a beating this poor girl’s clit could take. Most women he’d ever been with couldn’t stand a direct touch to such a sensitive piece of flesh, ’cuz it was borderline or downright painful for them. This girl was something else, though, ’cuz not only could she stand a direct touch to the lil nub, she couldn’t get off without it. He’d no doubt in any of the Nine Norse Worlds that she was gonna be sore as all hell later, and not due to his bigger-than-average size. But as long as she enjoyed it and didn’t tell him to stop, he was more than willing to give her what she wanted and then some.

“That’s it, my lil Siren–sing for me,” the older bassist growled right in her ear.

Aerin let out a shriek that–if the folks next door were home–woulda no doubt had the cops busting down the door soon as she started coming with a Vengeance.

_“Ahhhh, yeeeeaaaah,”_ he groaned, plunging in till he was balls-deep and rooted to his pubes.

_“Mmm, ohhhh,”_ the young woman moaned beneath him, shivering and squirming as the sensation of him throbbing set of a second, weaker orgasm for her.

_“Day-um,_ sweetheart,” Rob panted, just barely catching himself before he collapsed atop her.

_“Hmmm-mmmm.”_ A sigh followed that soft hum as she went limp, her back still somehow arched to avoid dislodging him too soon.

Chuckling softly, he managed to nuzzle her temple as his arms shook with the effort of holding his torso up so she could still breathe. Then again, his entire body shook like he was cold from the Power of his own orgasm, so he wasn’t exactly surprised by that. He also wasn’t surprised when she turned her head enough to actually kiss him, both of them sighing into the short, but sweet gesture.

The older bassist couldn’t help a groan as he was finally forced to pull out, having already softened enough that he’d to reach down and hold the condom on. Neither of them wanted it slipping off inside her, if for no other reason than ’cuz rubbers were a bitch to fish back out when that happened. Aerin mewled and squirmed, no doubt so sensitive that she’d be walking a lil funny for a while, even if their overnight shenanigans didn’t cause that. He couldn’t help yet another chuckle at that reaction as he pulled off said rubber, careful not to let its contents spill as he reached over and chucked it in the trash can next to the nightstand.

Scrunching his nose in obvious distaste, Rob suggested they grab a shower before they headed downstairsta the kitchen. He’d bought what he’d needed to serve dinner the Night previous, then breakfast this Morn, if they spent the Night like he’d planned. But he wasn’t feeling up to cooking till he washed off the sweat he’d worked up with those romps, and he imagined she felt much the same. The way she wrinkled her nose as she complained of hating the sticky feeling between her thighs made him laugh, even as he helped her up.

If the way the Night previous and now this Morn was anything to judge by, he certainly hoped that meant good things were to come. Even if that meant taking a trip up to Nashville and staying with Aerin and her friends for roughly the same amount of Time, if only to escape his own home for a bit, he was all for it. There was something special about this girl, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on, but knew he’d to have in his Life from here on out. Something told him on an innate level that if he ever let this one get away, it’d be the biggest mistake he ever made and he’d rue it till the Day he died. But the older bassist never breathed a word of that as they enjoyed their shower, both knowing they’d have to part for a while eventually.


	11. Ten

“Ashley Purdy, yer ’bout two seconds away from getting killed with Kindness when we get back home!”

Rob was more than a lil surprised when he walked through his front door from–unfortunately–being forced to run an errand that’d absolutely nothing to do with taking a woman out on a date to hear that. If it wasn’t the choice phrasing that’d caught his attention, it certainly woulda been the fact that it was the woman he’d slept with the Night previous that was practically screaming at the top of her lungs. The fact that her already-thick twang sounded even thicker–he’d say an out-and-out drawl now–woulda been the next thing to catch his attention. But the main thing that caught it was just how aggravated she sounded, considering that she’d been in such a good mood when they’d woken up and all the way up to when he’d dropped her off back at his actual home a couple hours ago.

Wondering just what in the hell he was walking into and about to have to break up, the older bassist was quick to close and lock his front door. Not even bothering to keep his steps quiet, he headed toward the family room, which was where the bellowed words’d rang out from. He couldn’t say he was expecting to see Aidan holding her friend back as they grinned at her, his younger equivalent peeking up from the End of the couch furthest from the love seat like he’d dove for cover. Considering the look on the younger woman’s face, though, he’d have prolly done the same thing, if it’d been _him_ on the receiving End of her ire.

“What in the hell did I just walk into?” he asked, drawing their attention over to him.

“Ash being a nosy ass,” Aerin answered, managing to shake the taller woman off at last.

“Oh, really?” the older bassist chuckled. “And how, pray tell, is he doing _that?”_

“Won’t lea’me alone about where all the _War wounds_ came from,” she grumbled, grabbing a Water bottle outta the fridge.

Rob somehow managed not to so much as smirk as he easily saw his handiwork from the Night previous in several spots along her throat and currently bare shoulders.

“Well, when ya _come home,_ as it were, covered in bruises that can only come from one place,” Ash said with a grin. “Not to mention you’re limping, but swear your hip ain’t bothering ya for once.”

“’Cuz it ain’t!” the young woman snapped. “For the Love of the Goddess–I’ve _never_ been in the business of kissing and telling, and I ain’t starting now, not even for you!”

Part of him couldn’t help but be relieved to find out about that facet of her personality, ’cuz he’d never exactly been in that particular _business,_ either.

“If ya weren’t invited to join in, or there to witness it with your own eyes, ya don’t need to know!” Aerin concluded as she cracked open the bottle in her hands.

“Doesn’t mean I _don’t_ still wanna know,” the younger bassist retorted with a grin. “Far as I know, you’ve never gotten laid since I metcha, and now ya come back after a Night out looking like ya got mauled by something?”

“He’s a point, hon,” Aidan chuckled, which only served to get them both flipped off once her hands were free. “Well, it’s true! I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many Dark spots and bruises on somebody who _wasn’t_ beaten to within an inch of their Life!”

Rob tried to bite back a snicker so she wouldn’t turn her ire on him next, but that was a bit of a futile endeavor since he knew she’d a point. He couldn’t deny having been known to mark women like this in the Past, if only from getting caught up in the moment and not truly realizing it till _after_ he’d done it. Course, he could definitely turn into a bit of an Animal sometimes, and the longer he’d been deprived, the more likely that wasta happen.

The young woman turned her sights on him, just like he’d suspected would happen, a sadistic grin splitting her face. Seconds later, he felt her hand running over one of his shoulder blades, where she’d left a few pretty good _War wounds,_ as she’d called them, of her own. He couldn’t help the pained groan he let out, considering that a few were deep enough to’ve drawn blood, but he couldn’t deny that it was an arousing pain.

“Cut it out, girl, or there’ll be hell to pay,” the older bassist warned her through gritted teeth.

“Oh, really?” Aerin snickered, the glint in her eyes daring him to drag her off with at least two ear witnesses in the house.

He merely Returned the look with one of his own that clearly warned her not to test him, or he’d actually do it.

“All right, all right,” the young woman relented. “Not in the mood–although, it _would_ be some pretty good payback for these two, if I kept on.”

The other couple shared a wide-eyed look with one another, both of them now _really_ wanting to know just what their friend had gotten up to. It was pretty obvious that she’d a damn good Night with this man at wherever he’d taken her, and they couldn’t help wondering just _how_ good. She’d complained of being able to hear their own shenanigans up in her bedroom back home, even when all the doorsta the master suite were closed and so was her own. No doubt she’d finally shown her own noisy side, and they were more curious as to just how noisy she’d gotten since they never so much as heard her moan when she’d bust out her toys.

Rob was content to settle in his recliner once he’d finally kicked his boots off so they wouldn’t be in anybody’s way later. Even when he pulled the object of his desire down into his lap, careful to keep her from sitting on his crotch for a couple different reasons, he couldn’t say that he wasn’t relatively happy. Not even the burning scratches up and down his spine could truly put him in a bad mood, considering how he’d gotten them.

Aerin turned her attention back to her friends once she was settled so that her hips were nestled between his thighs, her knees draped over his so her legs were wide open. She told them that all they needed to know was that she’d enjoyed the hell outta herself–which’d no doubt been the Intent–and they’d best be glad they hadn’t had to bear any form of witness. Not that she usually tried predicting the Future since not even something she called Scrying worked for her, but she could see plenty of repeats happening.

Even as he kept his expression schooled into a practiced, calculated blankness, the older bassist was more than a bit relieved to hear her say that. After all, it wasn’t like they’d really talked about where things were gonna go between them, and he’d been wondering about that. He just hadn’t gotten a chanceta ask her after they’d finally made it downstairs at what he’d finally revealed was more of a rental property he owned than not since he’d wanted food and to get them back here before anyone started worrying. Zach and Zoe were the least likely to worry since they knew his hidey-holes around the area, but these two didn’t really know him from Adam’s house Cat since what was public went only so far.

“That relieved, huh?” she chuckled, managing to look up at him without turning around.

“What makes ya think that?” Rob countered smoothly, cocking a brow down at her.

“I can feel it in your Energy,” the young woman laughed. “Your expression, or what your eyes say, don’t necessarily mean shit compared to _that.”_

“Oh, really?” he asked, his lips finally starting to curve in a bit of a smile. “Another one of those Witchy things, huh?”

“Energy work’s just _one_ thing most Witches do,” Aerin answered, laughing when she looked at the couch and saw her friends’ dropped jaws.

“Dude, consider yourself fuckin’ special,” Ash said as he looked up at him.

“She tells pretty much _no one_ about that side of herself without a damn good reason,” the ginger agreed from where she was snuggled against his side.

“Something tells me _fuckin’ special_ doesn’t even Begin to cover it all,” the older bassist chuckled, momentarily tightening his grip on her waist.

“He knows the _full_ reason why I can’t and won’t listen to _Lost it All,_ or watch _The Price is Right,”_ his newest lover explained when they turned more curious looks on her.

“Holy fuck!” His younger equivalent actually looked shocked enough to shit himself as he looked back up at him again. “Dude, ya ain’t kidding when ya say _fuckin’ special_ doesn’t even Begin to cover it! She swears that Aidan and I are her best friends, and she won’t even tell _us_ the reason behind that!”

The implications of what she’d entrusted him with and how much so hit Rob like a brick between the eyes when he told him that. “Consider that a Secret this Scorpio takesta his grave, then,” he assured her before she could even turn a pleading look up on him.

The young woman in his lap heaved a sigh of relief as she shifted enough to make herself a lil more comfortable, ever mindful of both their tender, hypersensitive crotches.

It wasn’t long before his kids finally got home from work since it’d been closeta mid-Morn before they’d ever bothered Returning. Almost immediately, said kids feigned gagging when they caught sight of all the marks across her neck and shoulders, which made him snicker as she laughed. Just like always, neither of them wanted to know the shit he got up to in a sexual sense, which was part of what made it so much fun to torment them with it.

His young group of guests were quick to start plotting out shit for them to do besides sit around his house the entire week, and being a local of the the area, he didn’t mind offering them suggestions. Orlando was about an hour Northwest of the house, depending on traffic at any given Time, and was Tampa about two hours due West on the fastest route. Not quite three hours South of them was his hometown of Miami, and there were all sortsa thingsta do along the way so that they didn’t necessarily _have_ to go that far, if they didn’t wanna. The same could be said for Jacksonville to their North, which featured hot spots like Daytona Beach and St. Augustine along the way.

Aerin admitted that she was more of a homebody than not, that she generally hated people equally and fairly till a select few gave her reason to do otherwise. She was just as content with staying right here–or maybe actually going to the Beach so she could feel the Sand–and laying in the Sun as going to overly-crowded tourist attractions.

Rob honestly didn’t blame her, ’cuz while he’d fun when doing shit like that, he couldn’t say that the crowds didn’t get a lil too stifling sometimes. Add in the Natural heat and humidity of a place like Florida, and the crowds could often become a lil _too_ much for some. Not only that, but while a lotta shit was starting to reopen after the recent shutdown, a lot still hadn’t and wasn’t gonna for a while. They’d have to check into what they were interested in, whether it’d been a suggestion offered by him or not, or they’d wind up just wasting gas. He saw no need to do that, add unnecessary mileage to Ash’s car, or aggravate her arthritis for what turned out to be nothing, and they were all quick to agree. Still, they were quick to thank him for the suggestions and advice since he’d know the area better than they would for obvious reasons.

Considering that none of them planned to actually go anywhere today since it’d gotten so late, they were content to just chill there at the house. Aerin finally admitting that her hip _was_ bothering her a lil bit only cemented that decision, but it also made him feel a lil bad. No doubt their shenanigans from the Night previous’d been the main thing to aggravate that ever-irritable joint, even though he’d tried to be as gentle as possible on her for that very reason. Laughing as she turned to face him, she reassured him by murmuring in his ear that it was a good kinda ache, that she’d have told him, if she hadn’t wanted it. But it was the gentle kiss she planted on his cheek that finally made him actually blush, even though he couldn’t help the smile on his face.


	12. Eleven

_Nashville, Tennessee_

By the End of that week, Rob’d decided on heading back to Nashville with the young trio who’d originally just been renting his guest room for a vacation. He couldn’t and wouldn’t even try to deny his attraction to the youngest of them, who’d wound up sleeping in his lap all but two of those Nights. The first’d been when he’d taken her to his rental property on that date, the second being when he’d actually decided to sleep in his bed. Either way, she’d been right there beside him, and he’d have been lying out his ass and through the skin of his teeth at the same Time, if he said he hadn’t enjoyed it.

In not wanting to part just yet and needing some Time outta his own house like he’d said, he hadn’t seen any reason _not_ to join them on their Return trip. Zach and Zoe’d given the younger bassist a hard look as they warned him that if anything happened to their dad that wasn’t from Natural causes, they wouldn’t bother filing a lawsuit. They’d just track him down and make him rue the Day he was born worse than Aerin would, ’cuz the jail Time they’d pull for his execution’d be more than worth it.

Eyes wide as he nodded like a bobble-head, Ash swore that if anything happened to their dad, he and the girls’d be dead alongside him, as tight as his security was. He refused to get into the reasons why he’d such tight security in the first place, ’cuz it was such a sensitive topic for him, but he assured them it was far tighter than that of even your average rock star.

Since she’d decided on making the eleven-hour drive back with the older bassist, Aerin waited till they were sealed away in his car to bother explaining it to him. He hadn’t been all that surprised to find out that Ash’d to deal with a stalker, ’cuz he’d been through the same thing a few Times, himself. What he _was_ surprised by was that she’d decided to tell him behind her friend’s back, which’d made her laugh when he said that. The young woman once again riding shotgun with him explained that she’d his consent to tell once he was outta earshot, much like he’d _her_ consent to explain what lil he knew about her Past once _she_ was outta earshot. Exactly who those things got shared with depended on how much they were gonna share and why, but wisely all the same.

_“Ahhhh,_ I gotcha,” Rob’d said as he’d followed his younger equivalent over to Interstate ninety-five.

“We came up with that unspoken agreement last Summer, ’cuz there’s some shit that we can’t really get into without winding up on Xanax for the Night, at the least,” the young woman’d told him, not even trying to hide enjoying what lil of a view she was getting as he drove.

“So, what on Earth’s got your attention?” he chuckled, keeping the majority of his attention on the road.

“What–a girl can’t enjoy what lil of a view she can get while a man’s driving?” Aerin countered with a laugh.

“Not much of a view, I’m afraid, if you’re looking where I _think_ ya are,” the older bassist laughed.

“Oh, it’s enough of a view for _my_ Imagination,” she told him, grinning. “Besides, I’ve already seen _Lil Rob,_ so I can cook up an even better mental image than I coulda this Time two weeks ago.”

Rob couldn’t help cracking up, if only ’cuz he was still amused by the ridiculous pet name she’d given his dick. “I swear, you’re definitely one-of-a-kind, girl.”

“Never bothered naming him before?” the young woman asked, barely able to get the words out through her laughter.

“Not really, no,” he admitted. “Never really felt the need, ’cuz I guess ya could say it’s like having a second personality with its own name.”

“It’s no different than naming a car or an instrument, if ya ask me,” Aerin said once she’d Calmed down.

“Never bothered naming my gear, either, before ya ask,” the older bassist told her.

“I wasn’t gonna,” she retorted.

Unable to help rolling his eyes behind the sunglasses that sported prescription lenses, Rob reached over to gently grab her hand. His grin only faded once their fingers were laced together, and that was only so he could kiss the back of her hand once he lifted it to his face. She couldn’t help the slight blush that stained her face at the action, which’d made him chuckle as he lowered their hands again so their arms rested on the console.

Pulling up outside Ash’s house eleven hours later, the older bassist was definitely getting tired, but he was pleasantly surprised by the sight he was greeted by. He couldn’t say he’d expected the man to live in such a big, but quaint-looking house, whether it was in Tennessee or some other State. Looking over to his right as Aerin stretched and rubbed her eyes since she’d dozed off, he couldn’t help but ask if this was really where he’d lived when she’d met him. Nodding, she admitted that she’d certainly been surprised by a single, childless guy living somewhere like this, but she hadn’t been about to judge his tastes.

The pair couldn’t bite back groans as they stepped outta his car, Ash and Aidan doing the same as they stepped out in front of the double bay door of the garage. Rob definitely felt the need to stretch, if only ’cuz he’d found that with age came far more stiffness than in his Youth, and he didn’t mean his dick. A chuckle to his right caught his attention, and that was when his younger equivalent told him to let him have his keys, and he’d worry about bringing their stuff up.

“Ya sure about that, man?” he asked. “Just ’cuz I’m stiff as a board doesn’t mean I can’t get my own.”

“I know, but I might as well since I’m not letting Aerin carry shit right now,” the younger bassist answered with a nod.

“Not even a gallon of milk, missy!” Aidan admonished her when she made to take a step and limped harder than she’d done down in Florida.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she dead-panned with an eye-roll. “Doesn’t mean I can’t take the garage stairs and at least get _that_ door unlocked.”

“Just go in through the entertainment room, ya nut,” Ash chuckled. “At least you’ve more landingsta pause on, if ya need to.”

The young woman simply flipped him off, much to everyone else’s amusement, before gesturing to his older equivalent. “C’mon, and I’ll take ya upstairs the back way.”

“The back way, huh?” Rob asked, even as he chucked his keys as the other man and made to follow her.

“There’s so many different sets of stairs in this house, it’s ridiculous,” Aerin laughed, unlocking the garage door. “Don’t fuck up his bikes, or he might try to kill ya–and then I’ma have to bust out Karma on him.”

“I’m still half-afraid to ask whatcha mean by that,” the older bassist admitted, taking care not to get too closeta the aforementioned motorcycles, even though he’d plenty of room.

“The Swords that I ’bout made Ash shit himself with the Day I met him,” she laughed.

Leading him over to the door that opened into the basement entertainment room, Aerin explained that one was topped by some evil-looking skulls, which the other’d a plainer hilt. The skull-hilted Sword wound up getting named Karma, just ’cuz she’d thought it fitting, while the plain-hilted Sword’s name was Kindness. It took him a few moments as he followed her through what looked more like the combined living room and kitchen of an apartment, but he finally got the running joke. She was taking a crack at the adage _Kill them with kindness_ by naming her Sword that, and everybody knew that Karma was a brutal, wild bitch that didn’t like to be caged.

The first set of stairs she led him to led up to a landing that was essentially a three-way crossroads between staircases. The second short set opened into the lil hallway that housed the basement bathroom, but also the back side of the gym. Said gym was on the back side of the part of the entertainment room they’d walked into from the garage, which was why he hadn’t actually noticed it.

Rob couldn’t help the urge to at least press a hand to her lumber as she started up the set of stairs that actually led upstairs. Shooting a grateful smile over her shoulder at him, she led him upstairs, and part of him couldn’t help his slight surprise. This staircase opened up into what was obviously the back side of the foyer, which’d been painted a pale gray that was fairly easy on the eyes. Laughing again as she cut a hard right, she told him that she and Ash’d butted heads hard and often over that one as she led him into the actual foyer.

“The man doesn’t have a sense of interior design beyond Zebra,” the young woman told him with a grin.

“I resemble that remark!” they heard from across the house.

“Yeah, I know ya do–which’s why I madeja let _me_ pick the Color schemes when we redecorated, asshat!” Aerin snarked back.

“Part of me’s kinda curious, but another part doesn’t wanna ask,” the older bassist chuckled. He was still letting her lead the way as she started up the grand, L-shaped staircase that Dominated the foyer.

“He pretty much says black-and-white for everything,” Aerin explained. “Kitchens, living rooms, bathrooms–when I say everything, I mean _everything.”_

“So, maybe he’s colorblind,” he said, biting back a laugh.

“No, he’s just lazy when it comesta that kinda thing,” the young woman retorted. “That, and he seemsta think that _everyone_ likes that clean-cut look just ’cuz he does.”

“I do not!” Ash shot back, starting up the stairs behind them as they reached the top.

“Then why’re all your flips done in black-and-white?” she asked, a knowing smirk playing at her lips.

The younger bassist couldn’t seem to find an answer, which made Rob finally laugh.

“I rest my case, asshat,” Aerin chuckled. “Now, Time to let Rob _pick his poison,_ as it were.”

“Oh, boy–sounds so ominous,” said older bassist dead-panned.

“Well, we’ve a few different guest rooms,” the young woman told him. “Two’re over there with a _Jack-and-Jill_ bath. I wouldn’t recommend it, though, since Aidan’s gonna stay here a bit longer before she even _triesta_ go back home to Missouri and those rooms’re right over the downstairs office and master suite.”

Turning to face the other Direction–and therefore, the other End of the hall that was more of a balcony overlooking the living room–Aerin tapped her nails on the door that was right next to her. She said that that was her room, but that wasn’t the only door that led into it, not that she’d much of a choice there. Limping her way to the door at the very End of the hall, she told him that was what she considered the catch-all living area.

Rob gladly took his bag from his younger equivalent before following her, and he couldn’t help wrinkling his nose at the pale green this room’d been painted. He’d never been much of a fan of green, other than the shade they’d ultimately chosen for his band’s logo decades ago. Granted, that’d been accidental ’cuz white paper’d been too expensive back in the early Days, so they’d to go with what was available and cheap–which happened to be the Color now associated with Poison. Turning to face him, the object of his desire couldn’t help laughing at the look on his face, but she was quick to reassure him.

As he glanced to his left into what she claimed was her _office,_ he saw that it was painted blue instead of the same green as this living area. The thing that got to him was that it was such a bright shade that it was hard to look at, especially with the Eve Sun streaming through the window. But to his right was another room, which Aerin beckoned him to follow her to as she turned in that Direction, herself. It was also painted blue, but this shade was a lot softer and easier on the eyes than what her _office’d_ been painted.

“I did that on purpose,” the young woman chuckled when he commented on that. “I wanted a shade that’d keep me awake in the _office,_ but one that’d be more sleep-inducing for in here.”

“Well, this one’s definitely sleep-inducing,” Rob chuckled. “Even without an eleven-hour drive, I could fall asleep in here–or in your room, for that matter.”

“Did that on purpose, too,” she laughed. “Lavender’s one of my favorite Colors and scents, so it usually puts me to sleep pretty quick.”

The older bassist couldn’t help a hum that sounded almost Dreamy.

“Your pick between in here since I know ya usually wind up sleeping in your recliner back home, or in my room,” Aerin told him. “I don’t particularly care, either way–why should I when we’ve slept together in a far dirtier sense already?”

“Fair enough,” he agreed, nodding.

“And if ya don’t wanna go through the hall, my bathroom opens into the catch-all living room,” the young woman told him. “That’s why I said my hall door wasn’t the only one that opened into my room.”

“I’ll admit, I was too busy following you to pay much attention,” Rob laughed.

“Yeah, this house can be kinda confusing till ya get it memorized,” she agreed. “Gods know I was stumbling around this place for a couple weeks till I got it down when I first moved in.”

“Well, I think I’ma prolly stick to the couch,” the older bassist said, finally setting his bag down. “At least I know how and where to find _you,_ though, if I Change my mind.”

Snorting since she could already tell he meant that in a couple different ways, Aerin simply rolled her eyes as she made to head outta that particular room. Glancing back over her shoulder, she said she didn’t know about him, but she could use food before somebody wound up dying. Before he could even form a response, his stomach decided to answer for him–much to his chagrin–which made her laugh and tell him to c’mon.

Heading down the stairs they’d passed to get to the door of the room he’d chosen to sleep in, he couldn’t help wrinkling his nose again. That expression was quick to Change as they got to the bottom where the Color became a soft, buttery shade of yellow, though. Rob couldn’t be exactly sure what part of the house he was in till he followed her to his right and realized he was in the kitchen, but he definitely liked the Color. It almost made him wanna go back home and paint his own kitchen that shade of yellow, but at the moment, it was simply hunger-inducing since he was already hungry.

In the kitchen, Ash was already hard at work whipping up something quick and easy for everybody while his girlfriend unpacked in the master suite. Since he said it’d take a few more minutes, his best friend shrugged and said she was gonna head out back for a few minutes. The older bassist was hot on her heels as he took in his surroundings, which was what lead him to notice how the kitchen fed into a continuation of the living room and a lil breakfast nook that overlooked the back porch and quite a bit of the yard.

Out on the back porch, he couldn’t help house his eyes widened at the simplistic Beauty of the back yard and how relaxing it felt. It was certainly bigger than his own back yard, but then again, he hadn’t wanted anything _too_ big since he hated yard work and didn’t want that much to wrangle when he wasn’t touring. Aerin wore a grin as she led him down the stairsta the actual patio, which surrounded both the outdoor kitchen–which she called a bar–and the massive pool. Constructed to look more like two Circles butted together like a ven diagram’d be, it was bordered along the back by a retaining wall of boulders that also served as a fairly Natural-looking Waterfall.

“For a Beach bum, I could get used to this,” Rob chuckled as they headed over toward the hot tub to settle on one of the boulders surrounding even it.

“Now ya see why–aside from my arthritis–I damn near live out here, as long as it’s warm enough,” the young woman at his side laughed.

“Damned if I wouldn’t, too,” he agreed, unable to help turning enough to see behind him. “What the hell’s _that,_ though?”

Following his gaze just up the Hill to where the gazebo’d been put, Aerin grinned. “Used to be my Sacred Circle, although it kinda still _is.”_

“Sacred Circle?” The older bassist’s brows furrowed in confusion.

“Basically, the place where any Witch who was gonna does their spell work,” she explained. “I, personally don’t do spell work–don’t have the Confidence for it, and I ain’t dicking around with something like that when it could backfire in any number of ways.”

“Fair enough,” Rob agreed.

“But that’s where I’d essentially hide to Ground, Center, and basically just recharge,” the young woman said. “After I got rained on a couple Times, Ash talked me into at least putting a gazebo up so I’d have some kinda roof over my head, if that happened again.”

_“Ahhhh,_ I gotcha.” He nodded as he turned back to look at it again. “Can’t help but get a weird feeling from it, though.”

Chuckling, Aerin explained that that was ’cuz of the Wardings she managed to throw up around it and maintain fairly well, considering her inexperience. Part of that was no doubt due to the Goddess she’d Invoked to help her with that, whom she called the Morrígan. She said she’d explain that some other Time, though, if he was really that curious so she wouldn’t overwhelm him with too much all at once.

Nodding again, the older bassist listened as she told him that those Wardings were meant in a protective way, so only those with ill Intent weren’t allowed there. It was essentially her church, so she was the one who set the boundaries and deemed who could and couldn’t go there. As long as his Intent was good and pure, he wouldn’t necessarily get hurt by invading her Circle–he’d just get that weird feeling from it, if she hadn’t given him explicit permission. If she gave him that explicit permission before he did it, it wouldn’t feel any different than walking through any other part of the yard.

Hearing Aidan calling out from the back porch made them both look up, and now that she’d their attention, they heard her telling them to come get it while it was hot. Calling out an affirmative, the young woman made to push herself up, only to be surprised by Rob rising and reaching down to help her up instead. Even for an old man who’d already admitted to having an irritable knee, he was quite the gentleman, despite any other reputations he’d gotten himself on top of that.

Said old man chuckled at the becoming blush that stained her cheeks, moving to wrap an arm around her shoulders as they headed back to the porch. He could already tell he was gonna enjoy this week here in Tennessee as much as he’d enjoyed having them in Florida for a week. Aerin was exactly what he’d called her earlier–one-of-a-kind, for sure–and he barely knew her any more than _she_ truly knew _him_. But he didn’t bother thinking about what’d happen when this week Ended and he’d to head back home since he knew he couldn’t stay forever without moving up here. He just didn’t wanna have to think about not having her in his Life, even if it was just temporary, ’cuz that Life now seemed dull and bleak to him.


	13. Twelve

The next Morn, as the Sun Began its daily ascent over the horizon, Rob woke in the bed of his young hostess with a soft hum. He’d originally Intended to sleep on the couch of the blue living room upstairs, but when he saw her raising the head of the bed to an angle that mimicked his recliner, he’d gotten curious. That was when she’d laughed and said that she’d forgotten to mention it was an adjustable-frame Sleep Number, topped with three inches of memory foam. She couldn’t sleep any other way, both ’cuz of her arthritis giving her hell and ’cuz of a few other problems that made just about any other bed too uncomfortable. Once he’d found out about that, he knew damn good and well no couch was gonna be nearly as comfortable, considering that old neck injury.

Waking to realize he was alone was a bit of a surprise, though, ’cuz that hadn’t even happened in his own house back in Florida. He didn’t exactly have to sit up as much as just roll onto his back, considering how he’d readjusted his side of the bed, as he looked around through blurry eyes. Aerin definitely wasn’t in bed beside him, and he almost thought she was just in the bathroom till he realized the bathroom door was open. The other door that was also open was the one that led out to the balcony, which spanned the length of the front porch–and from whence he actually heard Music.

Knowing he wasn’t getting back to sleep, the older bassist decided to go ahead and get up, part of him surprised that he didn’t wake up stiff for once. Another part of him _was_ surprised, simply ’cuz after his neck injury in the late-eighties, he’d never really been able to get comfortable again. Making a mental note to look into getting a bed like this for himself once he was back home, he shuffled off to the bathroom since taking a piss was first on his agenda.

Rob wasn’t expecting to shuffle back out, sliding his glasses on as he did, to see his young hostess sitting on a bench that’d been put on the End of the balcony next to the door that opened to it. What he was really surprised by wasn’t that she was sitting outside around the ass-crack of Dawn–it was the instrument in her lap. Unless he was mistaken, it was some kinda acoustic guitar, which came as a surprise since she hadn’t mentioned being any kinda musician back in Florida. Getting closer to the door where he could see better as he reached down to open it, he realized that it technically _wasn’t_ a guitar–it was an acoustic bass, which somehow made his heart practically sing with Joy as he opened that door.

_“Dannazione!”_ Aerin snapped as he stepped out, looking frustrated as she reached down to apparently pause whatever she’d been trying to play along with.

“Ya all right, sweetheart?” he asked, unable to help the yawn he let out as she looked up at him.

“Ah, ’bout to just give up,” the young woman chuckled as she moved to set her instrument on a stand she’d brought out with her.

“Never a good idea to _just give up,_ if ya ever wanna get any better,” Rob retorted with a chuckle of his own.

“Then lemme amend that to just give up _for now,”_ she laughed, scooting over a bit to make room for him to join her.

“What were ya trying to play?” the older bassist asked curiously.

Aerin’s face tinged pink once again, and he somehow got the feeling this was gonna be good. “A song that gets stuck in my head occasionally since I can connect with it on a few different levels.”

“Well, _that_ damn sure doesn’t tell me much,” he laughed. “’Cuz I’m sure we’ve all got _tons_ of songs that happens with, whether we write them ourselves or not.”

It seemed like the young woman wasn’t gonna give him a straight answer, so he managed to snag her phone before she could stop him.

_“Something to Believe In?”_ Rob’s eyes widened as he read the song title shown on the screen after readjusting his glasses slightly. “Well, that’s definitely a bit of a surprise.”

“Ya knew I was obviously a Poison fan,” she retorted, her face and neck now bright red.

“Being a fan’s one thing–actually wanting to learn our material’s another,” the older bassist chuckled. “Shows a whole ’nother level of Dedication, if ya ask me.”

“I guess that’s fair enough,” Aerin acquiesced, her face still red.

“What part’s gotcha at sixes and sevens, so to speak, though?” he asked curiously. “I mean, I kinda wrote that bass riff and get paid to play it, even now.”

Laughing as she told him that she knew that, as well as that he was the one on piano for this particular song, she took her phone back from him. Sliding her finger across the screen so it’d start at the very Beginning, she said that it’d be easier to point out the spots that were giving her trouble as she was listening to it. Handing him one of her ear buds, she said that she never really paid attention to the exact Time as she was trying to run through a song, so she didn’t have it memorized so she could actually tell him better.

Rob nodded as he slipped the ear bud she’d handed him into his left ear, his young hostess doing the same with the right one next to him. He readjusted himself so he could wrap an arm around her shoulders, not to mention rest one ankle on the opposite knee, as she tapped the play button. Something told him he already knew the spots that were giving her the most trouble, but he didn’t wanna actually say anything just yet.

Aerin admitted as the song worked through the piano intro that one spot she could name off the top of her head was the solo, ’cuz the riff Changed just enough that she couldn’t keep up. The older bassist couldn’t help a chuckle as he admitted that he was guilty of doing that a lot, if only to keep his band mates on their toes since they could be asses in the studio quite a bit. It might make learning his riff harder for someone else, but at least he got a good chuckle outta it when he threw those three blondes for a loop. She let out a chuckle of her own as she admitted that she’d prolly be the same way, if it were her, so she didn’t blame him a bit.

“That lil lick right there!” the young woman finally said, pausing the song again. “Right there at the tail End of four-oh-one _always_ throws me for a fuckin’ loop!”

He couldn’t help a laugh, mostly at how animated she’d suddenly gotten. “Ah, that part’s relatively easy, sweetheart.”

“Not for me!” Aerin insisted. “Look at the difference in the size of our hands!”

Making him hold up his right hand, she pressed her left one against it palm-to-palm, and he realized he’d have to be completely blind–or simply not wearing his glasses–to miss it.

“Your hands’re damn near twice the size of mine, so _of course_ it’s gon’ be easy for you!” the young woman told him, pouting almost petulantly afterward.

“I think I’d have to be a special kinda stupid or just not wearing my glassesta miss _that,”_ Rob chuckled as he wiggled his fingers against hers.

“But my hand being so much smaller means I can’t use my pinky when I’m trying to play bass,” she sighed, lowering her hand.

“Ya can’t?” the older bassist asked, his brows rising slightly.

“Stretches my hand too much,” Aerin answered, shaking her head. “And with my arthritis, that ain’t the smartest of ideas–I figured that out long before I got my diagnosis.”

_“Mmm,_ I see.” He nodded as he thought about it a lil differently than before. “I guess that _would_ make playing harder for just about anyone, especially if their hands’re as tiny as yours.”

“My hands ain’t tiny–your everything’s just a giant,” the young woman retorted with a mischievous grin.

“Some parts in particular, I know,” Rob agreed with a grin of his own.

Neither of them could help erupting into laughter, and he wasn’t surprised that she’d figured out he was Intentionally being dirty with her. She was a highly intelligent young woman, for all that she was equally eccentric and simply _out-there,_ as Ash’d put it. Having exotic looks–which’d been his biggest attraction back in the Day and honestly still was–didn’t mean shit, if there weren’t certain things on the inside to go with them. He’d learned a long Time ago to actually look at what was _in_ the box, rather than just the wrappings or the picture on the exterior, ’cuz the contents might not always match up with those, so to speak.

Considering that he obviously knew the riff since he’d written it and still performed it now, as he’d pointed out, the older bassist decided to make her an offer. He told her that he completely understood if she didn’t wanna take him up on it, ’cuz he could be kinda iffy about others touching his gear, if he didn’t know them very well, but he was willing to show her how it was supposed to be played.

Aerin cocked her head as she thought about it for a moment, then told him to give her a minute so she could grab something. Nodding, he told her it wasn’t like he was going anywhere, ’cuz he’d already taken his Morn piss and didn’t exactly fancy Swan-diving off the balcony or anything. Laughing as she stepped back into her room, she said she’d have to cart him off to have his head examined, if he ever said he was even _thinking_ about doing that. Saying such a thing’d tell her that he really _was_ crazy in all the wrong ways, ’cuz there was a difference between the good and bad kindsa crazy. It was something she’d learned well before moving out here to Tennessee, and she’d no desire to deal with the _bad_ kind anymore.

When she Returned to the balcony a few moments later, she held a different bass in her left hand, her right hauling a bass amp. Rob straightened a bit as he took the instrument and its stand from her, unable to help admiring it as she stepped back in long enough to plug the amp in. He usually wasn’t very fond of anything but the Yamahas he’d started playing back around the Time _Flesh and Blood_ was in the writing process, but that didn’t necessarily mean something like a Schecter was a bad brand.

“Be careful with that, or I’ma sendja back to Zach and Zoe in a body bag in your trunk,” the young woman warned him.

“I wouldn’t Dream of wrecking anyone’s gear but my own, and even then, I don’t bother with that shit unless I’m onstage,” he chuckled, lengthening the strap attached to its body as she was unrolling the cable he’d need.

“’Cuz you’re not the one who’s to pay for it, right?” Aerin chuckled as she got him plugged in before flipping the power switch.

“Pretty much,” the older bassist admitted with a grin. “Usually whoever’s sponsoring me does something stupid to piss me off, so I’m just like, _Ya wanna tell me no new strings when I’m about to slice my fingers open? All right_ – _I’ll just smash the whole thing instead of popping those old strings.”_

“A man after my own heart,” she laughed as she settled at his feet since the bench wasn’t big enough for both of them while they were playing. “Knob closest to your left’s volume, by the way.”

“Yeah, we don’t exactly wanna wake the neighbors this early, do we?” Rob asked, thumbing the top string experimentally.

“Not really, if we can help it, but the volume knob on my amp’s a lil more aggravating,” the young woman admitted. “Doesn’t seem like it does shit when I use it, or it’ll readjust the volume _too_ much.”

“Sounds like it might be some bad wiring or something,” he mused.

“Prolly more so that it’s cheap and shitty, compared to what you’re used to,” Aerin told him. “The one that bought it for me was a bit of a tight-purse, but since he didn’t have to, I just took what I could get. Since I’m no professional musician, either, that was another reason I didn’t see any sense in wasting money on a better one.”

“Makes senseta me,” the older bassist agreed. “But who bought it for ya, if ya don’t mind my asking?”

“Daddy, all of three months before he died.”

Rob’s eyes widened, mostly ’cuz he realized that the bass resting on his thigh musta been bought at the same Time as the amp it was plugged into. Now he understood why she’d given him the thinly-veiled threat of killing him, if he did anything stupid that damaged it when she’d handed it to him. Knowing the story of her grampa and how much he’d meant to her, he knew without having to ask how much this instrument’d mean to her now.

Shoving those memories to the back of her mind, the young woman got her hands into position to mimic him. Nodding to let him know she was ready, she watched as he slowed down the song’s tempo so she could actually see, not to mention keep up with him. He ran through the entire song once so he could see which parts she honestly had trouble with, and those parts quickly became obvious.

While she could use a lil more work on the verses and the chorus, she hadn’t been kidding about being unable to manage the solo riff or that lil lick in the third verse she’d pointed out. Considering she was far less experienced than he was and also had to work with the limitation of only being able to manage using as far as her ring finger, he thought she’d actually done pretty well. The thing that surprised him was how clear the notes she’d picked out sounded, considering that neither of them’d been using a pick since this song was supposed to be finger-picked like _Every Rose_ was.

“That’s one of my lil Secrets,” Aerin told him, grinning as she held up her right hand and flexed her fingers. “Part of why I keep my nails grown out a lil more on this hand.”

“Wait, really?” His eyes widened in surprise as he looked down at her while reaching over to kill her amp so he wouldn’t startle either of them, or anyone else.

Nodding, the young woman showed him the difference in Sound by using the pad of her fingersta run through part of the first verse, then repeated herself.

_“Ahhhh,_ I see–or rather, hear,” Rob chuckled, watching as she caught the strings with her nails, which definitely gave a slightly sharper, clearer Sound like a pick would.

“Keeps me from driving myself nuttier than I already am,” she told him. “It’s harder for me to play with a pick since I can’t tell one string from another yet, although that’s definitely easier on bass than it is on guitar.”

“Really, now?” the older bassist asked as he pulled the strap he’d been using over his head.

“I’m assuming you’ve heard the song _Monster You Made_ by Pop Evil?” Aerin countered.

“Plenty of Times since they were one of the bands on our last tour a couple Years ago,” he answered with a nod.

“I started trying to figure out the intro riff to that one, and the crazy thing’s that it’s easier for me on bass half the Time,” the young woman admitted.

“Can’t say I haven’t done the same thing a few Times, just to switch it up,” Rob laughed.

“Holy shit.”

Glancing up when they heard another voice, they saw Ash and Aidan’d apparently come looking for her and spotted them outside. But it wasn’t who was in the balcony doorway, but rather the looks on their faces that made him squirm a bit uncomfortably. He wasn’t quite sure what’d garner such surprised looks from really much of anyone, so he wasn’t expecting what came outta the younger bassist’s mouth.

“I’d feel even more special than ya did down in Florida, if I were you,” he told him. “’Cuz that bass you’re holding–she hasn’t even let _me_ touch it.”

Now it Dawned on him why these two, Ash in particular, were looking at him like he’d suddenly sprouted a third head.

“The closest I’ve ever gotten to touching it was when I put it in my car after I found her, and when I brought it into the house for her,” the younger bassist continued. “Beyond that, she pretty much threatensta do things with my nuts I’m pretty sure no man wantsta imagine.”

“So, I don’t want anyone touching my guitars or that particular bass, considering where I got ’em and what they mean to me–especially if they’re crazier than a rabid Fox,” Aerin said, sounding a hair defensive.

Setting the instrument in question on its stand, Rob reached out and took her hand so he could pull her up to her feet as she did the same with her acoustic bass. “Sweetheart, you’ve absolutely _no idea_ how flattered I am that you’d trust me with something like that, if ya won’t even let Ash touch it,” he told her as he hugged her.

“Well, he doesn’t know the story behind Scarlette, Ruby, _or_ Aria, ’cuz I’ve never told him,” she revealed, murmuring in his ear so only he could hear her.

The older bassist simply hugged her a bit tighter and nuzzled her hair. “Then that’s another Secret this Scorpio’s taking to his grave, if he’s gotta.”

“I don’t care, if ya tell him–just don’t do it when I’m in earshot,” the young woman murmured. “That’s the only reason I haven’t told him–it was hard enough to tell _you_ about Daddy.”

Nodding as he kept her held fast against his chest, he swore he wouldn’t breathe a word unless she was asleep or something. As often as she’d gotten migraines down in Florida, he’d a feeling she’d wind up having to sleep one off while he was here in Tennessee, and that he’d eventually get a chance before he left. That was agreeable enough to her, considering she’d be well outta earshot, if that were to happen and he took advantage of his chance.

Since it was starting to get muggy out due to the Sun rising more, they decided to take her gear back into her room, whether they continued her bass lesson or not. The excess heat and humidity wasn’t exactly good for something like a guitar, mostly ’cuz it’d make the Wood warp, if the exposure persisted. Rob knew that all too well, which was why he didn’t tend to play outside very much, if he wasn’t doing an outdoor concert with his band. And even then, the gear he used either could stand up to the demand, or it was already acclimated to the climate it was being used in.

But as they all headed downstairs for breakfast once Aerin’s gear was hidden back in her closet where it belonged, he still couldn’t help feeling flattered and special. This young woman’d entrusted him with things she hadn’t even entrusted her best friend with, and prolly wouldn’t tell him on her own. If such a thing were ever done between two other people and the guy didn’t feel this way, he’d be bonking him in the head for his stupidity, that was for sure. Such things didn’t often happen these Days, but there was one factor in particular he didn’t yet know about that’d make him feel all the more special once he found out about it. And that currently unknown factor was how bad of Trust issues this young woman had with pretty much everyone on the Planet.


	14. Thirteen

_November, 2020_

_Melbourne, Florida_

Rob was long since back home, both from the trip he’d taken up to Nashville the week after the young trio’d rented his guest room _and_ from one he’d taken just a few weeks ago in October. By the End of July, he hadn’t been able to contain himself anymore, and he’d finally taken the risky move of asking the youngest of said trio out–and as more than just on a date. He hadn’t been able to get her outta his head after they’d parted, even when they _weren’t_ sharing something like a phone or Skype call. If he were completely honest, it felt like he’d finally found his other half and had to part from them again far too soon for his liking.

Even though he’d known it’d be risky, what with the fact that he was a recovering alcoholic and would be till he simply dropped dead, he’d decided to fly up to Nashville in October for a reason. Aerin’s birthday was hard for her to get through, and if there was one thing he’d always been, it was supportive of those he loved and cared about. He might not be able to stop her from drinking herself silly for those three Days she called her _purge Days,_ but he could at least be there to pull her head outta the toilet, if she took it a lil too far.

The young woman he’d been dating for almost three months at that point’d actually surprised him with the amount of restraint she possessed, though. When she’d said she was a cheap drunk, but she could cut herself off without having to be told she’d had enough, she hadn’t been kidding. It’d taken all of three shots over the course of about an hour and a-half to have her nearly trashed, but she’d actually turned a bit green at the Thought of Ash pouring her another when he’d offered. Shaking her head, she’d told him that he was in charge of cleaning up the mess she’d make, if he did that, and her words’d just barely slurred as she’d spoken. Course, as thick as her Southern drawl was, her words tended to slur when she was sober, so there wasn’t much of a difference there.

From there, she’d just nursed a couple beers she’d saved since that Summer since she was admittedly a beer snob. Once she’d reached her desired level of intoxication, she’d managed to stay up for another hour or so before she’d started leaning over on her boyfriend as she dropped off. Rob hadn’t been able to help a chuckle, if only ’cuz he was still a bit amused by how cuddly she got when she was cold and/or tired.

But he’d still managed to talk her into going upstairs so they could go to bed, mostly ’cuz he knew that picking her up wasn’t exactly smart on his part. She might give some damn good massages, but he wasn’t too sure how well she’d be able to do that when she’d been drinking. Knowing that even her Cloud of a bed might not be able to help him, if he’d made his neck act up by carrying her, he knew it was smarter to simply be her living crutch. Aerin hadn’t tried to argue, complaining that she was too tired to keep her eyes open anymore, as he’d helped her to her feet and pulled her securely against his side. They’d bidden their good-Nightsta Ash and Aidan, the latter of whom’d finally moved in with them, before disappearing upstairs.

Now that he was back home, though, the older bassist wouldn’t deny that he was missing the young woman who’d ensnared his heart without even really trying. Then again, maybe that was precisely _why_ she’d managed to accomplish that feat–she simply hadn’t tried to do such a thing. She’d just been herself and essentially told him he could take it or leave it, that she was perfectly comfortable being single for the rest of her Life. No other woman he’d ever been involved with’d been like that, and he couldn’t deny that he enjoyed the Change.

_DING DONG!_

“What the–” Rob gasped, startled from his Thoughts when the doorbell rang.

“I got it, Dad,” Zach called out from where he’d been in the office at the front of the house.

“Works for me, son,” he chuckled as he settled back into his recliner. Even though it was his birthday, he hadn’t been expecting anyone today.

“Hey, Dad–why don’tcha close your eyes for a minute?” his son asked from the kitchen doorway.

“And if I don’t wanna?” the older bassist snarked back with a smirk.

“Then ya just won’t get your surprise,” Zach told him matter-of-factly.

“Ya know how I feel about surprises, boy,” he sighed, even as he did as he was more or less told.

“You’ll like this one, Dad–trust me,” the younger man laughed.

“Better hope so, or I might have to bust your butt like you’re five again,” Rob grumbled. He really _didn’t_ like surprises for the most part, which was another thing he’d in common with his girlfriend.

_“Awww,_ cut him some slack, _i miei dagli occhi marroni, d’Argento Volpe,”_ an all-too-familiar voice chuckled as someone settled so they were straddling his lap.

He couldn’t help a gasp as his eyes flew open, and not from feeling the person’s weight settle right on his crotch. _“Mmm, la mia dagli occhi marroni, Musica Strega,”_ the older bassist murmured.

_“Buon compleanno, l’amore,”_ Aerin giggled, her arms now wrapped around his neck as she leaned forward to kiss him.

“Damn right, it’s a happy one now,” he laughed as they parted moments later. “Definitely can’t say I was expecting to see ya again this soon, and on my birthday, at that.”

“What can I say? I couldn’t resist, and Ash said he’d drag me down here, if he had to,” the young woman told him, turning to grin toward the kitchen.

Following her gaze, Rob couldn’t help a grin of his own as he saw both the younger bassist and his own girlfriend standing there with his kids. “I’d say it _still_ looks like he draggedja down.”

“Nah, man,” Ash chuckled. “Why not join in on celebrating a friend’s birthday, as long as _I’m_ not the one involved with any birthday sex?”

He couldn’t help a laugh as he gave his girlfriend’s ass a playful squeeze, saying that’d never happen, if only ’cuz he didn’t share his women. Said girlfriend was quick to get him back for that, though, by rolling her hips slightly since his kids couldn’t see her. A groan rumbled up from the depths of his torso as he shifted his hands so he could grab said hipsta hold them still, the mischievous grin splitting her face somehow only growing. No one knew what could kickstart his motor and when, so to speak, like this woman did, and she damn well took advantage of it every chance she got.

Aerin didn’t seem the least bit disappointed when the older bassist suggested they hold off on any shenanigans, if only to avoid scarring his kids. Then his expression turned thoughtful as he said that he wasn’t even sure being in their bedrooms’d keep their Sanity intact, considering how they were known to be. Zach and Zoe both groaned as they said they’d go hang out with their own partners later that Night before they’d stay home to continue the birthday celebration into the wee hours, if they were gonna be up to _that_ kinda no good.

Laughing as the young woman turned around so she was still settled in his lap, but facing the same Direction he was, Rob said that might be their best bet. He made no promises about not scarring even Ash and Aidan, and he’d no doubt they’d both gotten into worse over the course of their Lives. That made said younger bassist and ginger shoot a look at each other, but they didn’t actually say anything as they wondered exactly what he could mean by that. But neither he, nor his girlfriend made a move to answer their Silent question, the grins on their faces nearly identical as they cuddled innocently. He’d finally found out just how those two’d scarred her so badly, and he considered this a Prime Time to give them some payback since it was _his_ house.

_“Nyah-ha-ohhhh.”_

Ash and Aidan’d nearly been asleep in the guest room later that Night when they were both jolted back awake by something. Grumbling softly as they pushed themselves up onto their elbows, they rubbed their eyes before the younger bassist reached for the lamp on the nightstand next to him. Both were wondering just what the hell they’d heard, ’cuz it hadn’t sounded the slightest bit familiar to either of them.

Moments before the lamp’s Light flared and lit up the room, they heard almost the same Sound, just with a slight difference. A rapid succession of staccato screams quickly followed, and their eyes widened as they realized where it was coming from. Unless they were mistaken, they were pretty sure it was coming from Rob’s room on the other side of the wall, only the closet and part of his bathroom separating the beds. But it almost sounded like their friend _wasn’t_ having a good Time, which made Ash start to throw the covers off his legs–till his girlfriend gently grabbed his arm.

“Something tells me she’s fine, hon,” she told him.

“I’ve never heard her make _that_ kinda racket, though,” the younger bassist argued.

“Keep listening, and I think you’ll figure out why I say that,” Aidan chuckled.

Cocking his head as he took a better listen, his eyes widened again. “Good Gods–is he fuckin’ her, or beating her senseless!?”

The ginger’d to press her pillow to her face as she cracked up at his question, but mostly his surprise.

“Damn, the man’s some fuckin’ Stamina for his age,” Ash said with a whistle. “You’d think he was my age or younger again, judging by what _I’m_ hearing.”

His girlfriend only laughed even harder, to the point that he started to worry about her.

“Well, now I kinda get what she means,” the younger bassist sighed. “’Cuz if this is what _she’s_ to put up with us, it’s no Wonder she freaks when we so much as make out.”

Aidan was almost completely breathless at this point as she cracked up, leading him to having to do something about that just so she could breathe. They’d their fun at the hotel the Night previous since they’d flown in a Day early, if only so they wouldn’t have to worry about having this very problem with the older bassist. But said man didn’t seem to give two fucks as he practically nailed their friend through the bed in the next room over, which kinda made them wanna give in to the same urges.

Just as they found their own rhythm with a bit of a lover’s Ritual, as it were, they heard a growl so loud, it was prolly better described as a snarl. Both were a bit startled by that, but they didn’t think too much of it as they tried to block that and the following noises out. Neither realized just what kinda surprise they were in for, though, not even two minutes after they’d heard that snarl, which woulda scared just about anybody.

* * *

“That’s it–sing for me, my lil Siren. Come for me, sweetheart–I wanna feel ya.”

Those words got into Aerin’s head like nothing else her boyfriend had said to her ever since they’d disappeared into his bedroom around Midnight. It was almost like a Lightning bolt went zinging down her spine straight to where he was pounding mercilessly, which made her eyes widen. Said eyes were quick to clamp closed again as she took a deep breath, that breath releasing in a shriek so loud and high-pitched, it wouldn’t have been surprising to find out she’d rattled the windows with it.

_“Ahhhh, yeeeeaaaah,”_ Rob groaned above and behind her, slamming in a final Time. Once rooted in her to his pubes, he finally let loose with a roar of his own that somehow harmonized with her shriek beautifully.

The young woman simply flopped beneath him as her orgasm finally Ended, but he was quickly startled in his own right when he realized she wasn’t breathing.

“Aerin? Sweetheart, breathe!” he said, gently shaking her shoulder.

Aerin still failed to draw a breath, although he could still see her pulse pounding wildly at her throat.

“Jesus fuck,” the older bassist breathed, forced to pull out sooner than he’d have liked. Moving so he knelt on the bed beside her, he cocked his arm back and gave her bare, up-turned ass a good, solid smack.

_“Oh!”_ she gasped sharply, finally sucking in another breath before starting to pant just as wildly as her pulse was flying.

“Back with me now, sweetheart?” Rob asked, concern marring his features as he brushed her hair back.

“Kinda…sorta,” the young woman giggled. “I floatin’, and I can’t get up.”

He wasn’t too sure exactly what she meant by that, but he couldn’t help a chuckle at how cute her loopiness was. “At least you’re breathing again, and still speaking English.”

“Could be Elviningonswahiliese, for all I know,” Aerin giggled, finally managing to roll onto her side.

“What?” the older bassist laughed, moving so he could dispose of the condom he’d used since he hadn’t done so just yet.

Somehow giggling even harder, she brokenly explained that it was a running joke between her and Aidan from back before they’d actually met in person. They’d met online to start with, and due to a mutual interest, they often cracked jokes in their Communication outside that mutual interest. One of the things that was more or less routine was saying they were so tired, they were starting to speak various other languages that they didn’t actually know.

It turned out that _Elviningonswahiliese_ was her way of covering the Mythical language of the Elves, Klingon, Swahili, and pretty much every language on the Planet that Ended in _-ese_ all at once. Rob couldn’t help a laugh of his own as he helped her sit up, that explanation actually making senseta him, despite how nonsensical it’d sound to pretty much everyone else they both knew combined.

_KNOCK KNOCK!_

“Gimme a sec!” he responded. Snatching up his robe, he managed to get it on and the belt cinched at his waist before wrangling his giggly girlfriend into hers.

The chuckle he heard on the other side of his bedroom door made him realize that it was Ash.

“What’s up, man?” the older bassist asked, having opened his door once he and Aerin were at least covered.

“Just making sure y’all’re still alive in here,” he answered, still chuckling.

“Yeah, we’re still alive,” Rob assured him. “She’s just giggly as all hell, though.”

Peeking over his shoulder, the younger bassist’s eyes widened. “Oh, shit–good thing we were planning on staying for about a week, as long as ya didn’t tell us to get lost.”

“Huh?” He couldn’t help his confusion.

“Lemme guess–she said something about floating and being unable to get up, right?” Ash countered.

“Yeah, actually,” the older bassist answered, nodding. “Not too sure what the hell that’s supposed to mean, though.”

“She’s in sub-space, man,” he sighed. “And you’re the only one that’s gonna be able to bring her down from it since _you’re_ the one who put her there.”

“Wait, what?” Rob’s brows rose damn near to his hairline.

“I know ya saidja don’t want details, so I ain’t gonna give ’em,” the younger bassist started. “But this is how she acts after a scene where she actually slips into sub-space.”

Casting a glance back at the woman in question, he couldn’t help his jaw dropping. “Well, shit. I didn’t do anything like that to her, though.”

Chuckling softly since he knew that loud noises tended to startle her more than normal while in this state, Ash explained that it wasn’t necessarily about whether he’d gotten kinky with her or not. Sub-space was a mindset that could be triggered at any Time by just about anything, up to and including memories of certain scenes. He didn’t necessarily _have_ to do anything kinky to do that to her–just getting her into the sexual shenanigans enough could do it.

Moving to help him get her upright, considering she was limp as a rag doll, the younger bassist asked if she’d stopped breathing once she finally got off. Rob couldn’t help his entire face and neck flushing, given that he didn’t exactly wanna give away certain details like that outta Respect for her. Getting him to look up at him again, he told him that if she _had,_ that meant she was gonna have a helluva drop over the course of the week. He already knew that from some of the scenes they’d together after she’d made him realize he was actually kinkier than he’d thought, or he wouldn’t have asked about it.

Finally nodding, the older bassist admitted that she _had_ stopped breathing once she’d gone limp beneath him, and that it’d actually scared him. It’d taken a good smack to her assta get her to breathe again, and he couldn’t help but worry about how that was gonna affect her later. After all, everybody knew that going without Air long enough could cause brain damage, if not outright kill a being.

“She’ll prolly have some blanks in her memory, but nothing _too_ bad,” Ash assured him as he helped him get her to his bathroom.

“You’re sure about that?” he asked uncertainly.

“Think of it kinda like getting black-out drunk–Lights’re on, but no one’s home,” the younger bassist chuckled. “That’s pretty much where _she’s_ at right now.”

_“Ahhhh,_ I gotcha.” Rob nodded as they got her over to the tub that Dominated the back wall next to the Water closet door. “I remember getting that way a few too many Times for my own good back in the Day.”

“Then ya recall how some memories from when ya were drunk’re clear as a Bell, but others’re nonexistent,” he told him. “That’s kinda how sub-space works for those in it.”

“You’ve either talked to her in a normal state too much, or you’ve been there,” the older bassist chuckled.

“Both, actually,” Ash admitted. “She and I are both Switches–the difference’s that I’ve more Dominant tendencies, whereas she’s more _submissive_ ones.”

His eyes widened as something suddenly clicked for him. “That’s why she seemsta get so shy in the bedroom when she’s a ball-busting bitch outside it.”

“That, it does,” the younger bassist agreed, nodding as he reached down to start the tub. “That’s her submissive side coming out, even in a vanilla situation like tonight.”

“Now I gotta ask, even though part of me doesn’t wanna,” Rob sighed. “Does her not telling me what she wants when I ask tie back into that, or am I finally losing it?”

As he worked with him to get the young, almost-sleeping woman’s robe untied and pulled off her, he explained that that was actually his _first_ hint that she’d been going into sub-space. Part of that particular mental state was a lack of cognitive function and the ability to state shit like their wants and needs. It was up to whoever was Topping them–the older bassist, in this case–to pay attention to their body language for hints about those things since they couldn’t verbalize them.

Working together, they managed to get her into the tub without hurting her, both smiling as she sighed and slumped down so her knees were peeking above the Water. Looking back up to his older equivalent, Ash said that–even if he never got fully into the Lifestyle like they were–he’d figure these things out as Time passed. In the meantime, he was more than willing to help him so he wouldn’t make a mistake that might negatively affect his relationship, like denying her cuddles this week. He said that she needed almost constant physical contact–particularly cuddles–from whoever’d sent her hurtling into sub-space, or she’d be like a basket case gone off her meds, and it’d only worsen her already-nasty Trust issues.

Nodding his Understanding, Rob said he could handle getting her to bed after they’d relaxed for a while, which effectively dismissed him for the Night. Chuckling as he turned to leave them in Peace, the younger bassist told him to come get him up, if he needed any help later on. Aerin could be a bit of a wild one to handle when she was in sub-space, and while she might only respond to him, Ash could still help him with advice.

Once his younger equivalent’d left, the older bassist finally shed his own robe before managing to step into the tub. His young girlfriend seemed more or less asleep, although her eyes cracked open again when his toes gently, but accidentally nudged her hip. Scooting over and all but rolling onto her side again, she managed to make enough room for him to sit down next to her and almost immediately latched on to him. Rob couldn’t help a soft chuckle as he wrapped his arms around her, sighing as he rested his cheek on top of her head. This definitely wasn’t the kinda birthday celebration he’d been expecting, but he certainly wasn’t gonna complain.


	15. Fourteen

_June, 2021_

_Nashville, Tennessee_

Time’d continued to pass, and by the Time what his girlfriend called the Sabbat of _Imbolc_ rolled around, Rob and his young girlfriend were damn near inseparable. Both’d started to miss each other to the point that by that Time, they’d started taking bi-monthly trips far from home. Starting technically in October, he’d make a trip up to Nashville to see her once a month, and on the months he didn’t go to her, _she’d_ fly down to Florida to see _him_. It was a bit rough that way, considering her professed near-phobia of flying, but they managed to make their long-distance relationship work.

But the last Time he’d gotten to Travel for anything besides work, as it were, let alone go to see Aerin was back in April. Starting at the Beginning of May, he’d to be out in So Cal for tour rehearsals since the _Stadium Tour_ hadn’t gotten postponed again. Even though he was still looking forward to said tour, he couldn’t help but miss his sweetheart more and more with every passing Day.

His friends and band mates, not to mention the other guys rehearsing for the tour, playfully teasing him about how he needed to find himself a girl and get laid wasn’t helping matters. To them, such a thing was nothing–most of them could go home to their girls at the End of each Day, or had no qualms about cheating. Rob might not have a ring on his finger again, but he considered himself married as much as he did when he actually had been.

When the tour finally rolled into the Nissan Stadium on the North side of Nashville on June twenty-ninth, the Silver Fox of a bassist was considering something he never had before. He knew damn good and well _Triple A,_ as he jokingly called them, lived all of twenty miles away in the Town of Brentwood. Considering that he didn’t have to be in Cincinnati till July second, he’d roughly three Days that he could abandon the tour and go hide with his girl, if he really wanted to. No matter how much he did or didn’t wanna, she’d make sure he rejoined the others instead of completely abandoning them–and with a full stomach and empty balls, at that. Aerin was just that kinda down-home, Southern woman–she never let him leave even his own house hungry or horny–and that was one of the many things he loved about her.

Chilling backstage after Sound check as he tried to make up his mind about whether to surprise his girlfriend or not, Rob was completely unaware of what was in store with him. He deftly ignored his band mates’ remarks about how he still needed to get laid, still wanting to bean them with his bass. Every Day that passed brought him closer to three months since the last Time he’d gotten to see the young woman, let alone have some dirty fun, and it was starting to drive him crazy. But he hadn’t used his bass as a weapon against one of his friends since the onstage fight he and Bret’d gotten into back in ’06, and he wasn’t gonna Change that over something so stupid now.

“Seriously, dude,” Rikki was chuckling, which got him to tune in again. “We know it’s driving ya crazy, so why not do something about it?”

“’Cuz you’re starting to drive _us_ crazy,” the aforementioned vocalist told him.

“Do I really _need_ a reason to turn down a _Lady of the Night_ besides I’m just not interested?” he groaned, dragging his hand down his face.

“You’re acting like ya went and got yourself hitched behind our backs and you’re missing the missus,” CC laughed.

“Fuck, no!” the Silver Fox spat. “Doubt _that’s_ ever gonna happen again, and if it _does,_ it’ll surprise even me!”

“Then why act like that?” The drummer’s brows furrowed as he studied him.

“Doesn’t matter, man,” Rob answered. “’Cuz I’ve absolutely no Intention of telling.”

“Telling what, Dad?”

Glancing up, he saw his kids with a group that looked like security guards across the room. “Well, this is definitely a surprise,” he laughed.

“We’ve another surprise for ya, too, Daddy,” Zoe giggled, a look of pure mischief on her face.

“Oh, this is gonna be good,” Bret chuckled. “It always is when lil Miss Zoe gets devious.”

“What’ve I toldja brats about me and surprises?” the bassist groaned, even though he was still smiling as he rolled his eyes.

“I’m pretty sure you’ll like _this_ surprise, Dad,” Zach said with a snicker.

“Then it better be as good as my birthday or better,” Rob retorted. “’Cuz nothing’s gonna top _that_ for a good, long while.”

“That’s the Intent, _il mio d’Argento Volpe.”_

The trio of blondes that made up the rest of Poison’d never seen his eyes widen so much, nor him move so fast as he bolted upright from where he’d been slouching at those purred words.

 _“La mia Musica Strega!”_ His cry was a happy one as he all but sprang up outta his seat.

Bret, Rikki, and CC were surprised when their friend’s kids stepped aside to reveal another trio, whom the security guards’d been helping to hide. They thought the lone man looked a bit familiar, but they couldn’t place him–and besides, they were more interested in what their friend was doing. He’d been so crabby lately that they couldn’t help wondering what on Earth about that short sentence coulda made him so happy, but they were surprised by what they witnessed.

Rob couldn’t help an ecstatic laugh as he grabbed the shorter of the revealed women in a Bear-hug, said woman squealing as he actually picked her up and spun her around. Said woman started laughing just as hard as she gently pounded on his shoulders, demanding that he put her down before he hurt himself. Even as he acquiesced and set her back on her booted feet, he couldn’t help the face-splitting grin his friends hadn’t seen in quite a while. But his bending down to give her what they’d have to describe as a searing kiss, which made her melt and slump against him as her arms wrapped around his neck, was definitely a surprise.

“What on Earth?” the vocalist wondered aloud.

“Damn, man–let the woman have some Air!” the lone man with her and the other woman–a ginger–laughed.

“Can’t help that I missed _la mia Musica Strega,”_ Rob laughed, finally straightening.

“Doesn’t mean you’ve to kill her!” he retorted. “I think ya came close enough to _that_ on your birthday!”

All that answered him was a downright dirty grin as the older bassist kept the woman pulled against his chest, even after she’d managed to fully straighten again.

“We agreed not to talk about that in front of Zach and Zoe, asshat,” she chuckled.

“All right–answers, Bobby,” Bret finally said.

“Yeah, or we’re gonna go nuts wondering who on Earth this is, and why she just made your face Light up like a Light bulb,” the lead guitarist agreed.

“My reason for _not_ sticking my dick in anything that moves,” he told them, still grinning.

“Ya better not be sticking _Lil Rob_ anywhere but in me,” the young woman told him. “’Cuz you’ll be better off sticking him in a meat grinder, if ya do that.”

Every guy in the room winced and cupped themselves protectively at the mere Thought.

“To _really_ answer the question, though–this is my girlfriend, Aerin,” Rob finally said. “I don’t think I really need to introduce these blonde nimrods.”

“Not really since I’d know all Poison members–Past _and_ current–on sight,” she laughed. “Well, maybe not Blues so much, but everybody else–good Luck fooling me any more than you’re gonna fool me with which Mötley member’s which.”

The rest of the guys seemed surprised by that and decided to really test the Knowledge of the woman he’d introduced as his girlfriend and called Aerin when he did. None of them quite believed her, but that mighta been just ’cuz they were so surprised that their friend was supposedly dating a woman closer to his kids’ ages. Or at least, she appeared to be, considering that she might be older and just really baby-faced like said Silver-haired man’d been all his Life.

“I’d like to think I’d recognize the star of _Rock of Love_ just about anywhere,” Aerin told them. “Rikki’s always been the tallest blonde–not to mention that _Flesh and Blood_ tat gives him away–and CC’s the short-stack of the group.”

“Damn, she really _does_ know her shit,” Rikki chuckled.

“You’re _really_ dating her, though?” said lead guitarist asked, his blue eyes pinned on his friend.

“Fuck, I _hope_ the last near-Year hasn’t been a Dream,” he laughed in response. “And if it _has,_ may I never wake up from it!”

“Wait, you’ve been dating her for nearly a _Year?”_ Bret’s blue eyes were the next onesta widen.

“It _was_ July eighteenth when I finally couldn’t stand it anymore, wasn’t it?” the older bassist countered, this Time to said girlfriend.

 _“I_ seem to recall that being the date,” she agreed. “And thatcha surprised me by showing up here in Nashville again the Day before that.”

“You’re from here in Nashville?” CC asked. “That explains the accent, then.”

Grinning mischievously, the young woman denied that assumption, but said roughly half her family was from the Eastern side of the State. She said she didn’t wanna get into it, though, or that’d wind up putting her into such a bad mood, her boyfriend wouldn’t enjoy getting to see her today. One sharp look from Rob was all it took to keep them from asking her anything else, and she couldn’t help the relieved smile she shot him.

It was said man suddenly letting out a yelp that startled all but the pair she’d shown up with, but the growl that followed quickly clued them in. Zach and Zoe groaned and said they were taking over the bus, if he didn’t, ’cuz they didn’t wanna be exposed to such shenanigans. Letting out another growl, he managed to swat her hand away from his crotch, but not before she got in a second good squeeze that made him yelp again. Too needy to be teased right now, he hefted her up and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of Taters, warning his band not to come anywhere near his dressing room for a while.

The only thing that made the older bassist pause for a moment was the man Aerin’d shown up with gently grabbing his shoulder. He handed him something once he turned just enough to face him, then sent him off with a pat on the back as he told him, _Go get ’er, Tiger_. Nobody aside from his kids could help bursting into laughter as he turned back around, that bag hanging off his free shoulder now. Other than a smack to the young woman’s up-turned rump for smacking his, the last thing they heard was _Ya lovable, big-dicked Neanderthal!_

“Well, she’s certainly a Spirited one, isn’t she?” Rikki chuckled, his surrogate niece and nephew hauling ass for their tour bus.

“I think that’s one of the things that made him fall for her so hard, so fast, man,” the man who’d been with them admitted with a chuckle of his own. “By the way, I’m one of her best friends, Ashley Purdy.”

“Now I know where I recognize ya from!” CC exploded, sounding victorious. “You’re from Black Veil Brides, right?”

“That _was_ my band, yeah,” he answered as he shook all their hands. “Not so much after I was outed in the ass-End of 2019, though.”

“Ouch.” The blonde drummer winced as they reclaimed their seats, motioning for him and the ginger to join them. “Can’t even Begin to _imagine_ how that had to’ve felt.”

“I can, though,” the lead guitarist sympathized. “Maybe different reasons, but it still happened to me, too.”

“So, who’ve ya got with ya?” Bret asked. He already wore his typical flirty look when he’d found a girl he was interested in.

“Not gonna happen, Mr. Michaels,” said ginger dead-panned, allowing Ash to wrap an arm around her shoulders possessively. “Aidan don’t share, and she don’t like _being_ shared.”

The blondes on either side of him couldn’t help cracking up, the final man merely smirking as if thinking, _Checkmate, Bret_.

“I don’t like sharing any more than _you_ do, hon,” Ash chuckled, that smirk never leaving his face.

Rikki was quick to steer the conversation to where _they_ were from since their friend had made it pretty clear that she didn’t wanna talk about where she was from. He surprised them when he admitted they were both from Missouri, although they were from opposite sides of the State. While he was from closer to St. Louis than not, his girlfriend–apparently Aidan–turned out to be from nearly in Kansas.

All three of the blondes and half their crew that was working on setting up for that Night were more than a bit startled when they heard a sudden shriek from the Direction of their bassist’s dressing room. Laughing since he already knew what that meant, the younger bassist made them sit back down when they started to jump up and go running. He assured them that till Rob stepped out and started screaming for their medics, the young woman was perfectly fine and there was nothing to worry about. If he stepped out and started screaming for medics, though, they’d know something was wrong that he _couldn’t_ handle.

The fact that that shriek was quickly followed by a muffled roar definitely reassured the unlikely-looking couple. After hearing it come outta their friend’s bedroom in Florida and knowing the pair survived, they knew what both those noises meant. Unless he decided to go after round two pretty quickly, it wouldn’t be long before they were getting cleaned up so they could rejoin the rest of the group. But from the looks of things when they first walked in, he needed this desperately, so they were willing to leave them to it for now.

In his dressing room, Rob was still pinning his girlfriend to the cinder block wall with his own torso, his knees shaking madly from the intensity of his orgasm. Then again, after nearly three months, he wasn’t too surprised that it’d been so intense that it nearly quite literally knocked him off his feet. But he couldn’t deny this was one helluva good surprise, nor that he was enjoying the sensation of his own sweaty flesh sticking to that of Aerin as they panted heavily.

Once they’d both caught their breath enough to manage such a thing, the older bassist finally pulled back slightly. His hands still cradled the backs of her thighs as he straightened, gently pulling her upward as he pulled his hips back to free himself. The young woman whimpered softly, even as she slowly lowered her right leg from where it was currently wrapped around his waist.

With her foot on the ground as solidly as it could be till he fully lowered her, he made sure she wasn’t gonna fall as he did just that. Being nearly a foot shorter–even when she was standing on her longer leg–he’d to bend down quite a bit to give her another kiss that was more tender and affectionate than wild and desperate. He couldn’t help the smile that crossed his lips as she sighed contently, her arms wrapped around him and her hands pressed flat against his back. Part of him didn’t wanna move aside from getting another round in before showtime–or maybe after that and the meet-and-greet to follow–but he knew he _had_ to. After all, giving a $400 show for a $100 ticket and mingling with his fans were just two of his duties, especially while on tour.

Taking advantage of the dressing room’s shower sounded like a mighty fine idea, considering he’d Intended to do just that before heading onstage. In fact, Rob was surprised his girlfriend hadn’t refused any of his advances since it’d been a couple Days since he’d managed to grab a shower back in Minneapolis. Laughing, she didn’t deny that he was a lil offensive to the olfactory sense at the moment, but she’d been too desperate for him to care. Still, she was more than agreeable to joining him, her nose wrinkling at how sticky she felt down South of her belt.

“Lemme shoot Zach a text, then since he and Zoe were supposed to be heading to the bus,” he chuckled. “I kinda need my shower gear, but I don’t feel like getting dressed even long enough to go get it.”

 _“Mmm,_ I don’t blame ya–and besides, ya look better this way,” Aerin purred, patting his ass before giving it a squeeze.

“Are ya _trying_ to get me in trouble, sweetheart?” the older bassist laughed as he tapped _Send_. “’Cuz that’s what you’re gonna do, if ya keep on.”

“I doubt Nikki or one of the others’d mind filling in for ya tonight,” she told him with a devious grin. “They’ve all been in the same boots, and besides, who cares what _they_ think?”

 _“I_ kinda care, if only so I don’t have to listen to a bunch of lip,” Rob said. “’Cuz Gods know they’re not gonna lemme live down all the screaming, as it is.”

“Hey, better to give ’em a _reason_ to tormentcha, if that’s the case,” the young woman snickered as he went to answer the knock at his dressing room door.

“Thanks, son,” he chuckled, reaching a single arm out after peeking around the panel to make sure it was who he thought.

“Don’t mention it, Dad,” she heard the young man reply. “Now, go wash your stinky ass and put some clothes on it.”

“That was the–hey!” Rob couldn’t help cutting himself off with a yelp as he felt his girlfriend’s hand connect with his ass again. “You’re asking for it, woman!”

“Ya feeling froggy, big boy? Then c’mon and jump!” Aerin taunted him, making sure she could be heard by the guys, who were dying of laughter in the backstage area.

“Excuse me, son, while I go punish a bad girl,” the older bassist said, quickly closing the door in his laughing son’s face.

Everyone in the backstage area could hear her laughing scream as he picked her up again, a solid smack landed on her once again up-turned rump as he headed to the shower. Thankfully, it was more than big enough that–if he really wanted to–he could go after that second romp without having to worry that it’d render his condoms useless. Course, that was dependent on how much he felt like pushing the envelope–and if he were honest with himself, he was definitely feeling it after three months without his girl.

By the Time they finally finished that much-extended shower, Aerin was definitely feeling the beating she’d taken. Much like their first Time together almost as soon as they’d met, though, it was a good kinda ache that’d keep a smile on her face for a long Time to come. If not for that reassurance, he’d have worried about giving it to her so rough damn near every Time they got this kinda chance.

Once they were dried off and dressed, they moved on to things like getting their hair brushed so it could dry again. That was something his girlfriend had gotten him to doing almost from the Time they’d started dating–letting his hair simply Air-dry. Rob’d gotten to the point that he hated taking a hair dryer to it these Days, but at least he’d enough Time for the tresses that were easily as thick and coarse as the young woman’s to dry. Otherwise, he’d have no doubt been miserable once he got out under those hot stage Lights–which the Thought of sparked an idea.

“Hey, sweetheart?” the older bassist said, glancing over to where she was taking her Time with brushing her hair, which she’d cut to it fell to just below her shoulder blades.

 _“Hmmm?”_ Aerin hummed, momentarily wincing as she snagged a knot.

“Howddaya feel about helping me fuck with the guys’ heads?” he asked, unable to help his grin.

“Ya better not be thinking about going at it in front of ’em,” the young woman answered.

“Hell, no–not even on the bus between shows or something!” Rob vehemently denied. “No, I was actually thinking in a musical sense, not a dirty one.”

“Oh? Now you’ve my attention,” she told him, stowing her hairbrush back in her bag of toiletries she’d brought with her.

“You’ve gotten a helluva lot better at _Something to Believe In_ since I started running through it with ya–hell, I daresay ya could play that riff in your sleep,” the older bassist started. “We’ve played it damn near every show since that album came out, and tonight’s gonna be no different.”

“So, you’re thinking get me out there with y’all?” Aerin asked, cocking a brow at him.

“If ya wanna,” he answered, nodding. “If not, we’ll just cut out the piano riff like we’ve been doing in recent Years since we don’t have anyone elseta play it.”

The young woman wore a thoughtful expression for a few moments before her devious grin from earlier Returned with a Vengeance. “Then get your Sound tech in here to wire me up–I’m ready to have a _different_ kinda fun!”


	16. Fifteen

The rest of Poison, Ash, and Aidan couldn’t help but laugh when their bassist and his girlfriend finally emerged from his dressing room some two hours after they’d disappeared into it. Neither of them breathed a word of his idea to said band, nor the other couple, just so he could do as he’d said–fuck with his band’s heads during the show. Said band didn’t have the slightest idea what he was up to, which was just how he wanted it–they were more concerned with the goofy smile Dominating his face and how relaxed he seemed.

His letting out a yelp as Aerin jerked him down onto the backstage couch–which she sat on the back of–surprised them a bit, but they were quickly relieved of any worry. Even when she grabbed him so that she coulda choked him from behind, the pleasured groan he let out as he slumped was reassuring. Only the younger bassist knew just how magick of hands she possessed, but when they used the term _magick hands,_ they weren’t kidding. She could put just about anybody to sleep when she put her mind to it, and neither of these two were an exception to the rule.

Letting go of his shoulders, Rob managed to sit up and stretch so hard, he nearly slid off the couch and landed on his tailbone. The young woman grabbing him under his arms and hauling him back up slightly saved him from at least a Night of pain, which was rewarded with a quick kiss. None of his friends’d seen him so happy in Years, and they couldn’t say they _weren’t_ genuinely happy for him and this turn of Luck.

“Ya know, she might be something else, but I’m just glad to see ya happy, Bobby,” the drummer chuckled. “You’ve needed this for a long Time, dude.”

“Y’all don’t even know the half of her _something else,”_ he responded with a chuckle of his own, leaning back so he could rest his head on her thigh.

“Damn, did I just hear a _y’all_ come outta your mouth?” CC laughed.

“Well, I kinda _am_ dating a country girl, here,” the older bassist retorted, lifting his head enough to shoot him a grin. “It rubs off after a while.”

“Like a lotta other things, I’m sure,” Bret snickered.

“Only one who’s gonna know is me–or maybe Ash and Aidan, if they’re dumb enough to stay in my guest room again instead of sleeping on the couch,” Rob told him.

“So, how’dja even meet?” Rikki asked. “’Cuz I’m more curious about _that_ than your sex Life.”

“Long story short, Ash got in touch with someone about renting their guest room last Summer when everything first started opening back up,” Aerin answered. “Turned out to be Rob, and we wound up hitting it off right from the start.”

“I think I was already falling head-over-cowboy-boots from the minutecha told him to smack that bitch back into her cage,” he admitted with another chuckle.

Naturally, the guys were surprised to hear him say that, and the young woman laughed as Ash held his hands up in surrender. Her expression turned downright serious as she admitted that she’d been abused in various ways her entire Life–although she wouldn’t specify how and by whom. She made it clear that if she didn’t ask for it, there’d be hell to pay one way or another, sooner or later, ’cuz she didn’t put up with that shit outta anybody. Plenty of folks’d said that–tiny as she was compared to any of these guys–she could hit like a guy, especially when she got mad enough.

Ash decided to put himself on the line by playfully goading her till she finally hauled off and socked him in the arm hard enough to knock him over into Aidan’s lap. The band’s jaws dropped as he pushed himself back up with a laugh, gingerly flexing his arm as he rubbed it with his other hand. Even Rob’d never seen her actually hit anyone–he’d been smart enough to simply take her at her word rather than pushing _that_ envelope.

Turning her attention back to said blondes, she said the only one she _wasn’t_ dumb enough to challenge was Rikki, and that was simply ’cuz she knew he was a black belt in Brazilian _Jiu-Jitsu_. Aerin didn’t particularly fancy accidentally winding up with a broken neck, depending on what he’d to do to protect himself, any more than her man fancied Swan-diving off her balcony. Otherwise, she didn’t Intend to challenge any of the rest of them–especially her man–but she damn sure wouldn’t back down from a fight. A smirk crossed her face as she said she’d way too much Tennessean blood in her veinsta do that, nor had she been raised to back down instead of fighting back.

It wasn’t long before Bret, Rikki, and CC’d to head off so they could grab a shower before their show, if they were gonna. Since he’d already done so, the Sound tech decided to start with wiring up the older bassist, who gently pulled him outta earshot. As he was letting the man run the wires for his Sound pack and in-ears up his back–which stung from his girlfriend clawing it again–he talked to him about what he’d in mind. Luckily, the guy said he could definitely get his girlfriend wired up while they were onstage so the others didn’t see.

“Thanks, man,” Rob sighed, turning to face him once he’d been wired up. “I don’t want ’em knowing what’s up my sleeves.”

“Hey, ya ain’t gotta thank me, Bobby,” he chuckled. “Although, I’ll admit to being curious as to why you’re wanting to be Secretive this Time.”

“Well, a couple different reasons, honestly,” the older bassist admitted. “Firstly, they just met her when they got here–they dunno how talented she is, and we don’t have the Time to be arguing over it.”

“Sensible,” the tech, Jack, agreed with a nod.

“Secondly, Aerin can be extremely shy about those talents till she gets into a certain groove, if she doesn’t know a person very well,” he continued. “If I hadn’t caught her playing on her balcony a week after we met, she prolly wouldn’t have played in front of me for months.”

“Damn, seriously?” the tech asked, looking surprised.

“I shitcha not, we’d known each other for almost six months when I finally got her to sing for me back around Christmas,” Rob told him. “She’d sworn the whole Time she could sing her ass off, and damn–fuck, I’ll just let her prove it out there on the stage.”

“Holy shit,” he laughed. “Must be damn talented, if she’s _you_ at a loss for words.”

Nodding his agreement on that particular assessment, the older bassist headed back over to the small group that were waiting for him. He nodded to his girlfriend as he reclaimed his seat so he could get his bass hooked up to check his Sound pack before showtime. All she did as he sat back down so that his shoulders were between her knees was Return the nod, already knowing what he’d been trying to tell her.

Once he’d made sure everything was operational to his satisfaction, he pulled his in-ears back out, letting them drop down over his shouldersta rest on his chest. Even _he_ didn’t have a clue what else was up Aerin’s sleeves as she merely relaxed behind him, her fingers gently playing with the tips of his hair that she’d pulled up. She knew better than to play with his hair near his scalp unless it was Time for bed, ’cuz doing that’d put him to sleep damn near in a heartbeat. But since he needed to get wound up right now, she wanted to do that without making him have to hide Wood behind his bass all Night.

It was only about an hour after they’d emerged from his dressing room that the guys got called over by their manager. Rob paused long enough to get a good-Luck kiss, as it were, from his ever-devious girlfriend before joining the rest of his band. Ash and Aidan cocked their brows at her once he wasn’t paying attention, wondering just what she was up to as much as his kids now where. She merely grinned and mimed zipping her lips, not about to give away either surprise, especially the one she’d in store for her man.

As the band kicked off their show with the title song of their debut album like they’d done on their last tour now three Years ago, the young woman wasn’t surprised by their Sound tech discreetly gesturing to her. Making sure nobody was looking, she nodded discreetly to let him know she’d seen his gesture and waited a few moments for a lull in their conversation. Gently excusing herself on the grounds that she’d need of a restroom, she slid down off the back of the couch and headed back to her man’s dressing room. The Sound tech waited about a minute before following her so it’d seem like he hadn’t known what she was up to, that way they could keep their Secret.

“Knock, knock,” Jack said through the crack in the door.

“Perfect Timing,” she chuckled.

“Aerin, right?” the tech asked as he entered, careful to close the door behind him.

“Yeah, that’s me,” Aerin answered. “Gimme a hand tying these laces off, if ya don’t mind.”

Turning around, he saw her holding a pair of ribbons behind her back that cinched a corset tight around her torso. “Damn, how’dja manage to get a corset in Poison green?” he laughed.

“It paysta be friends with somebody into fashion,” the young woman answered with a laugh of her own. “Don’t yank ’em any tighter, if ya ain’t gotta–I won’t be able to breathe so I can do what Rob’s wanting.”

“You’re the only one who actually calls him that around here,” Jack told her, deftly tying each ribbon in a bow in the middle of her back.

“That’s what he wanted me to call him when we first met, and it works out better for me,” she said with a shrug.

“Do ya mind my asking why?” The tech moved on to actually getting her wired up as he asked that.

“Too personal to get into, especially right before _Something to Believe In,”_ Aerin answered. “The first verse’s already gonna be hard enough for me ’cuz of that, as it is.”

“Ouch,” he winced. “Ya sure ya wanna do this, then?”

“I wouldn’t have said yes when my man asked, if I didn’t,” the young woman assured him. “This song can be cathartic for me, and if it keeps my _purge Days_ as tame as last Year, I’ll take it while I can get it.”

“I’d ask whatcha mean by _purge Days,_ but I get the feeling ya won’t say right now,” Jack chuckled.

“Unfortunately, no,” she confirmed. “If I don’t before we part ways, though, just ask Rob once you’re alone–he knows my rule of thumb with that particular story.”

Nodding his agreement as she turned around to face him, the tech showed her where the power switch on the Sound pack actually was. It was easy enough to get to just by reaching behind her, and he was gonna make sure her in-ears and the cable for the bass she’d be using was already plugged into it. Grinning as she looked up at him, she finally asked the question that’d been on her mind ever since the original idea’d been posed to her.

Aerin asked him how easy it’d be to get what was commonly referred to as a _Madonna mic_ instead of just the typical in-ear system, like what Ash’d used in the Past. He cocked his brow curiously, wanting to know why she’d ask such a thing since they didn’t normally use those for anyone but Rikki. Laughing, she told him that she wanted to throw even the older bassist for a loop on _Talk Dirty to Me_ so she could get in his head. If her idea worked out the way she wanted it to, he’d damn well be having himself _nothin’ but a good Time,_ whether it was here in the venue, on the bus, in a hotel, or even back at her house, depending on the schedule.

Jack cracked up at the Thought of her messing with Rob’s head like that, but wore an identical grin as he Calmed down enough to answer her. Telling her to give him a sec to sneak out so he could dig through the drummer’s gear, ’cuz he was pretty sure he’d an extra headset that could be used tonight. He said he was more than willing to take the backlash for such a thing, ’cuz he figured he’d be too amused to truly get pissed.

“All right, folks–Time to come back down to Earth for a lil while!”

Rob snatched his Water bottle off his amp as the vocalist addressed the crowd, CC following his lead across the stage. Even their drummer snatched up a Water bottle from somewhere behind his kit, guzzling easily half of it just as quick as they did. Having killed off those, they chucked them back behind the curtains on their respective sides of the stage for their techsta grab, patiently waiting for the final blonde to grab his own.

“Who’s ready to _talk dirty to me?”_ Bret asked.

The entire crowd went insane with cheers and applause, bringing grinsta all their faces.

“Hit it, C!” he yelled, waving his arm in the lead guitarist’s Direction.

As said short-stack of a cracker jack ripped into the intro riff, all four of them heard a sudden _pop!_ through their in-ears. Jumping as they turned to shoot each other a confused look, they tried to figure out what the hell that coulda been, even as the bassist and drummer joined with their respective parts. Even the vocalist shrugged before moving back to his mic, none of them seeming to know what’d just happened besides maybe their gear was about to need new batteries or something.

Rob’s eyes widened as he suddenly heard a breathy, high-pitched voice through his in-ears that he recognized all too well. His band mates jumped as that same voice startled them, Bret almost stopping mid-verse from being startled, all of them looking around for a moment before turning their attention back to the crowd before them. If they hadn’t already been mid-song, he mighta tried to stop just long enough to reassure them, but he knew he couldn’t stop them and make them start over. Besides, that voice of a Siren was starting to get in his head in different ways, and he was fighting to ignore it so he could keep playing.

It seemed that the others even heard the soft giggle through their in-ears that got drowned out by CC’s screaming solo as the bassist moved to his best friend’s side. Bret wrapped his arm around his shoulders as they took off for the infamous hop-stomp they’d done ever since filming the video for this song. The crowd was always entertained by it, which was why they somehow still managed to do it at least a few Times per tour.

Heading back to their mics, the vocalist shot him a look and mouthed, _Who the fuck giggled?,_ his brows furrowed in confusion. The older bassist couldn’t do anything but shrug like he _really_ didn’t know, even though he damn well did as he kept playing. But he wasn’t surprised to hear that breathy voice pick back up as they dove into the chorus for the final Time, although he couldn’t help a shiver this Time. Part of him wanted to kiss his girlfriend senseless for such a surprise, but at the same Time, another part kinda wanted to strangle her for damn near messing them up. No doubt she was wearing a shit-eating grin right now, but he’d get her back for that later, even if he’d to run away to her house for the Night.

“The hell’re ya doing, Bob?” the vocalist asked as he pulled his strap over his head once they’d killed off that song. “Show’s not over yet!”

“I know it’s not,” he said into his mic, even as he shot him a look that screamed, _Really, man? Ya know I_ hate _that nickname!_

“Then what’re ya doing?” Rikki asked into his headset from his kit.

Turning his attention back to the crowd, the older bassist couldn’t help his grin. “I’ve set up a surprise for even the guys tonight, ’cuz I got Inspired earlier.”

The crowd looked confused, but surprised and curious.

“Help me give a warm welcome to someone near and dear to my heart!” Rob said, then turned for the keyboard his tech’d set up.

His band mates all looked surprised as he settled on the bench behind it, knowing damn good and well he couldn’t play that _and_ his bass riff all at once. Not even waiting to be counted in, he let his hands dance across the keys, the others apparently getting in gear enough that they decided to just go with it. Course, they didn’t exactly have much of a choice since he wasn’t about to give them one, his grin fading only slightly.

Bret was surprised once again when he made to start the first verse, and not just from seeing one of the spotlights get redirected over to the curtain behind him. Seeing his bassist’s girlfriend step out, a hat that looked eerily similar to one the Silver Fox’d worn in the early-nineties pulled down low over her face and one of his other basses hanging from her shoulder was a surprise. However, that wasn’t nearly as much of a surprise as he realized she was the owner of the high-pitched voice now singing co-lead with him. The dynamic she was adding to such a personal and heartfelt song was downright Awe-Inspiring for even their lead guitarist.

Aerin made sure not to fuck her boyfriend up as she gently nudged herself against his right arm, knowing he could provide a Comfort no one else could. Even the crowd saw him lean a bit closer to her for a few seconds before he straightened as much as he was gonna, which brought a smile to her face. He knew how hard this song could be for her, especially the part in the first verse about a suicidal Vietnam vet since it made her think of her pappaw every Time she heard it.

The young woman forced herself to move closer to the man she was singing co-lead with so she wouldn’t be tempted to keep leaning on Rob as her pickin’ fingers started getting itchy. All the other band members seemed surprised as she launched into his bass riff flawlessly, even as she kept singing that co-lead line. What really surprised them, though, was just how Emotional her voice sounded as they moved into the second verse. Not even Bret’d managed to inject that amount of Emotion back in the early-nineties, and he’d written that verse about his best friend and former security guard. The man’d tragically gotten a lil _too_ caught up in the eighties Lifestyle, and it’d caught up with him in a none-too-pleasant way.

Her vehemence and the pure Rage that Surfaced in her voice during the second half of the third verse, and especially when she actually stomped her foot as she barked out _Ha!,_ surprised all but the older bassist. He was the only one besides Ash and Aidan who knew why she’d have reacted to such lyrics like that, but he wasn’t gonna tell even them without her saying he could. All he was grateful for was that she managed to finish out the song, even when she switched so she was singing one of the backing lines with CC while he and the drummer sang the other till the very last two lines. It was those last two lines that prolly sounded the most Emotional outta any during the entire song up to that point, though. Still, she’d done a far better job than he’d thought she would when that idea’d come to mind in his dressing room, and he was more than a lil proud of her as he finally rose from his keyboard.

“Well, I can’t say I expected _that,”_ Bret laughed into his mic.

“That was the whole point, man,” the older bassist chuckled into his own after raising it again since his girlfriend had lowered it. “Everybody give a round of applause for Rebel!”

Aerin grinned as she pulled the strap of the bass she was using over her head, then gave it to him so he could pass it off to his tech as she took a bow.

“Glad to help punk the guys,” she chuckled. “And I’m kinda in the mood to _keep_ punkin’ ’em.”

“Oh, really?” Rob asked, laughing as he took his Poison-green, glittery bass from his tech.

“Even _you_ haven’t heard me do this before,” the young woman told him with a grin.

He couldn’t help cocking a brow down at her as he threw his strap over his head so it settled with its pad in the proper position on his left shoulder.

Grinning, Aerin turned to glance over her shoulder since she’d read their itinerary and knew what song was next in their setlist. “Hit it, Rik!”

Rikki shot her a surprised look, especially when she swiped her boyfriend’s mic and killed it before stuffing it in the opposite back pocket from where her Sound pack was hidden. Laughing as she quickly moved away when he reached out to snag it back from her, she all but danced her way over to Bret and CC, who couldn’t help cracking up. It was fitting as he tapped out his part of the intro, considering they were doing _Your Mama Don’t Dance_ next, which meant she’d quite the sense of humor.

None of them could really argue with her, even if she was throwing their show a bit off-course tonight, ’cuz they’d a show to put on, either way. Besides, it was highly entertaining to watch her get out there and have fun with them like she was their age, or like they were hers again. Course, even Rob was surprised when she dropped down from where she’d been singing a co-lead line with their vocalist again to cover his lead-ins flawlessly. In fact, her cover was so flawless, he’d have sworn _she’d_ been the one to track these parts back in the Day, if he hadn’t known any better.

_“Ya see, I…pulled into a drive-in and I found a placeta park_ – _we hopped into the back seat where it’s always nice and Dark,”_ Bret sang, not expecting what was right around the corner any more than his bassist was. _“I’m just about to move, thinkin’ to myself,_ Mmm, Bret this is a Breeze– _then there was a Light in my eye, and a guy says_ – _”_

_“_ – _outta the car, long hair!”_ Aerin veritably growled, her voice every bit as deep and guttural as her boyfriend’s normally was when he sang that part of the lyric.

_“Ooh, wee_ – _you’re comin’ with me, said the local police,”_ he continued, even as he turned a surprised look on her when she shot back up into his range like it was nothing.

The young woman simply grinned before moving to engage the crowd again, seemingly not caring about hundreds of guys looking down the front of her corset like she normally would.

Rob was a bit concerned when she headed down the runway part of the stage and leaned down to touch hands with a few of the fans closest to the barricades. He knew damn good and well she could hold her own and take care of herself, if she really needed to, but he still didn’t wanna see her get hurt. Knowing about her arthritis and how much trouble it gave her most Days made him even more concerned, especially since she was wearing heels for once tonight.

He almost yanked off his bass as some jackass grabbed her ankle just as they were getting into the outro, a growl of his own going unheard by the crowd as he managed to pull her off her feet. Letting out a snarl of her own that _was_ heard by even the band due to her headset, Aerin managed to get her foot outta the bastard’s grip. Without giving him a chanceta react, she hauled off and Donkey-kicked him right in the shoulder so hard, she’d to’ve knocked him three people back from where he’d been standing. Apologizing to those she’d caused him to knock down when he fell as the Music died away, she scrambled back to her feet and rejoined the band on the main part of the stage.

The vocalist was quick to demand that security get that guy outta the venue, ’cuz if he found him later on in the Night, he couldn’t promise he’d behave himself as the older bassist wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He watched as his gray-haired friend didn’t even give him a chanceta announce CC’s solo before he started leading her backstage, her headset now turned off so nobody’d hear anything they said through the house speakers. Part of him wanted to dive off the stage and find that bastard, anywhore, but he really didn’t feel like going to jail tonight.

Backstage, Rob flagged one of the medics over since she was limping so hard after that spill, which was no doubt aggravated by their earlier shenanigans. Thankfully, Aerin didn’t try to fight either of them as Bret and Rikki joined them, knowing he was just looking out for her. However, watching her get pulled down like that combined with simply having missed her made him go on a manager-hunt while he’d the chance.


	17. Sixteen

“Are ya all right, Aerin?”

Looking up from where she’d been settled on a stretcher for the medicsta look her over, Aerin couldn’t help the tears in her eyes as she saw Bret and Rikki kneeling down on either side of her. Her boyfriend had said he needed to go find his manager real quick while he’d the chance, but would be back as soon as he’d taken care of whatever it was he needed to talk to him about. That Silver Fox was always full of surprises, most of them good, so she was willing to turn him loose for now on the grounds that he at least Returned long enough to say goodbye before the tour continued.

“Yeah, that was a pretty nasty spill, girl.” This was said by Rikki, who looked concerned.

“One of y’all just go find Aidan, if she doesn’t come back with Rob,” she said, still biting back those tears. She was a stoic lil bitch like that, whether her pain was physical or Emotional.

“Already got her, sweetheart.”

“Thank the fuckin’ Gods!” the young woman cried.

“What the hell happened?” Aidan snapped, taking on her typical _mother Hen_ demeanor as she approached with both bassists, not to mention Zach and Zoe.

“Ah, ya know how the dirty shenanigans can go more often than not,” Rob told her, his face flushing slightly. “I think she’d have been fine, even _with_ that–if that jackass in the crowd hadn’t reached up, snagged her ankle, and pulled her feet out from under her too far down the stage for any of us to get to her quickly.”

The ginger let a distinct, but foreign Curse as she pulled her friend’s bag off her shoulder and started rooting through it. “Zach, go raid your dad’s snack stash on his bus, or she’ll refuse _any_ kinda treatment, even when she’s screaming bloody murder.”

“Yeah, I think even Bret’d rather give up a cup of yogurt or something than have her puking like _The Exorcist,”_ Ash agreed.

“On it,” the youngest man said, nodding as he took off like a Bat outta Hell.

Said vocalist looked as confused as the blonde still kneeling beside him, considering why he’d to keep a certain amount of food on the bus in the first place. Aidan chuckled and assured him that all three of them’d known he was diabetic long before they’d met Rob, so they were well aware that they couldn’t take _too_ much food from him unless they wanted an even worse Disaster on their hands. However, she refused to truly explain till her friend nodded, grinding out between clenched teeth that they were gonna _have_ to be told eventually, if she Intended to stay with her man long-term–which she did.

“She was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis about eighteen months ago,” Ash explained since he’d been the one with her and heard the explanations at the Time.

“Jesus Christ,” both blondes breathed, removing their hands from her shoulders in case they were aggravating any pain she was in.

“It seems so bad now ’cuz it was technically a _juvenile_ case–she just didn’t find out about it till well into her young adulthood,” he continued.

Bret’s eyes widened, ’cuz he was the closest to being able to imagine how she felt.

“The damage’s already done, unfortunately–but she usually managesta live so normally, you’d never know that was what was wrong with her,” Aidan chuckled. “Well, other than a slight limp most Days, but that’s not always from her arthritis acting up.”

The young woman let out a chuckle of her own as she kicked off her boots, then fully extended her legs in front of her. Even Rikki wasn’t blind enough to mistake how her right foot extended out about an inch more than her left, which meant that leg was slightly longer. He’d seen folks living like that before, and one almost couldn’t tell anything was wrong with them unless they knew what to look for.

“Aerin just can’t do anything like stay on her feet too long, or mow the yard, on a Day she even _thinks_ of having sex,” the younger bassist told them. “Her left hip’ll start acting up a lil too much for any of our liking.”

“As in, if I’ma give Rob a _Good Love_ kinda Day or Night, I’d better not be planning on doing much the next Day,” Aerin told them. “I can handle however wild he gets, as long as it ain’t mixed with being on my feet too long or getting yanked off ’em like I did onstage.”

Said older bassist hummed, finally managing to gently kick Bret aside just enough to settle beside her. “Once Zach gets back, we’ll get that Percocet in ya and letcha be as giggly as ya wanna.”

Neither were surprised by Rikki questioning the use of Percocet, if only ’cuz they’d been expecting _someone_ to ask such a thing. She was quick to explain that normally, she could make do with her prescription Aleve since she’d found out a long Time ago that the regular stuff just didn’t really work. But if she combined something like _any_ amount of sex with even being on her feet too long, and especially that spill she’d taken right before they’d come backstage, even the _prescription_ stuff wouldn’t work very well. Her narcotic was pretty much the only thing that’d bring her any relief, and she took it _very_ sparingly for a reason.

First and foremost, she’d figured out that she’d as addictive a personality as Nikki Sixx a long Time ago, and she refused to take any chances with that. Secondly, there’d already been more than enough alcoholics and drugs addicts in her family before her–she wasn’t about to become the next, even _without_ that addictive personality. And thirdly, she simply didn’t like how she felt when she was anything but sober, even though she’d readily admit that she didn’t like being in pain, either. Even her friends could agree that she was no masochist, despite her few piercings and the gorgeous, but fairly massive tattoos saying otherwise. Ash even said that the tats were usually to give her a different kinda pain to focus on than that in her joints, which was why she’d often say _gimme another hit_ as her hint to him.

“But I can certainly name one thing that _ain’t_ helping her right now,” said younger bassist chuckled.

“Yeah, this damn thing, beautiful though it is,” Rob agreed, laughing as he pulled the bows at her waist loose.

“Just don’t loosen the laces till I get a shirt on, or you’re gon’ be the one fighting folks off,” the young woman warned him.

“Hey, I almost yanked my bass off and dove into the crowd after that mother fucker–till I watchedja Donkey-kick him,” he said. “Ya really think I need to be doing _that_ with that old neck injury?”

“Fuck, no!” Aerin spat, holding her arms up for Aidan to slide her T-shirt on her. “Even _my_ magick hands won’t do shit to help _that!”_

“I saw ya look like ya wanted to charge, dude,” Rikki spoke up. “And while I know you’re just a protective guy when it comesta whoever you’re dating, I got the feeling there was more to it than that.”

“The arthritis explains it, though,” the shorter blonde said, using his gray-haired friend’s knee to push himself up to his feet. “Ya already knew about it, and no doubtcha were worried enough already.”

“I’ve known about it since the Day they got to my houseta rent the guest room,” he admitted. “Ash warned me that unless she specifically _asked_ for help, leave her alone and let her go, or there’d be hell to pay for trying to butt in too much.”

“I’ma stubborn lil bitch like that,” his girlfriend snickered, finally spotting Zach. “What’dja have to do–go to Europe for fresh milk?”

“Damn near it,” the youngest man laughed, handing her the cup of yogurt he’d known was his dad’s based on the flavor and a spoon. “I swear, crews wanting to stop and chit-chat ’cuz they haven’t seen me in a while, the other bands wanting to get riled up for their own shows–ugh.”

Shrugging, but thanking him as she took it and ripped it open, Aerin didn’t particularly care what flavor he’d grabbed for her. Even if she could just barely choke it down ’cuz it wasn’t one she was very fond of, she’d rather that than her pain meds cause everything she’d eaten for the last two Daysta come back up. Pineapple was her least favorite fruit, and she’d still eat yogurt flavored with _that_ before she’d let Percocet start making her sick as a Dog.

After the first couple bites, Aidan laid one of the pills in question in the spoon once she’d dug up another bite. She knew her friend’s strategy well, and that it worked to keep her from winding up sick when she actually took this shit. It wouldn’t be long after she’d killed off that yogurt before she started getting loopy, which was how she always reacted to her painkiller.

Even Rob wasn’t surprised how–by the Time CC’d finished his solo and taken a short break of his own–his girlfriend was as giggly as she got while drinking and leaning over on him. The medics that’d been hired for tonight hadn’t found anything wrong with her once they’d managed to check her over, but still recommended that she follow up with her doctor to be sure. Neither thought she’d anything like a broken bone, dislocated joint, or anything like that, but they also didn’t have an X-ray machine at their disposal. Anything coulda been wrong that wouldn’t be seen by the nekkid eye, especially if it was internal, which was why they’d made such a recommendation.

Ash was quick to assure them that he’d make sure she got checked out more thoroughly, even if he’d to tie her up and drag her into the office kicking and screaming. He was gentle about picking her up bridal-style, much to the band’s surprise since he obviously wasn’t _her_ boyfriend. Even his older equivalent laughed as he said that the only other way he could carry her was baby-style, and that was a lil _too_ weird for all of them. Said older bassist was quick to give her a kiss, nobody but the man cradling her really catching whatever he’d murmured to her before the band got ready to head onstage again.

Roughly an hour after storming the stage again–which included a drum solo for Rikki and a bass solo for Rob–the second band of the Night finally Ended their set with their cover of KISS’ _Rock and Roll All Nite_ as their encore. They were all hot, tired, and sweatier than Pigs, but they were coasting on a rush that couldn’t be obtained through any other source. In fact, none of them were quite ready for bed–whether they’d a meet-and-greet or not–as they ambled off to their dressing roomsta grab another shower.

By the Time they’d come backstage again for the drummer’s solo, Aerin’s lil group’d already gone back home for the Night. Even his kids–who’d ridden with them–had known she wasn’t gonna wanna do anything but go to sleep once her Percocet kicked in, and that the show’d just keep her up. It sucked ’cuz the other band the younger bassist’d gotten these tickets for her to see was Mötley, and she completely missed it, but her boyfriend had a plan up his sleeve. He refused to breathe a word just yet so he wouldn’t have to put up with as much shit outta his own band, especially when they could talk it over tomorrow. After all, band manager Bert’d given him just the news he’d wanted when he’d taken off to go find him during CC’s solo, so it worked out.

“Damn, I’m ready to get to the hotel,” CC chuckled as they headed off to collect their belongings from their dressing rooms after said meet-and-greet.

“Unfortunately, not gonna happen boys,” their manager sighed.

“What?” It was the vocalist who practically barked at him. “I thoughtcha already booked the rooms!”

“I _did_ –and some dumbass gave them to some other group _not_ associated with this tour,” he told them.

Three grumbles answered him, the final man not bothering as he repacked the gym bag his shower gear typically lived in.

“Hey, chill out–Bobby’s managed to solve that problem already,” Bert said.

“Wait, what?” Rikki turned his attention to his bassist.

“Well, it was _originally_ only gonna be for me,” he chuckled, straightening so he could turn to face them. “As long as bus call wasn’t gonna be _too_ early, I’d every Intention of ditching y’all till sometime tomorrow so I could get more Time with Aerin while I’d the chance.”

“Of course ya would,” the lead guitarist laughed. “Not that you’re gonna get much more action tonight, apparently.”

“Not unless I wanna be taking advantage of her while she’s drugged–which I _don’t_ –no,” Rob agreed. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t take advantage of her Cloud of a bed, either way.”

The guys all looked confused, which made him grin as he explained what he meant.

“When Bert told me about the hotel mix-up, it sparked yet another idea,” the older bassist said. “Might not be the best accommodations, but I’m pretty sure y’all won’t argue with even a couch versus those bunks.”

“Wait, whaddaya mean?” Bret asked.

Still grinning, Rob then explained how he’d hauled their manager off to find Ash once he’d been told that lil piece of Intel ’cuz of the idea it’d sparked. The younger bassist remembered how ghastly tour buses could be, and how he’d do just about anything to _not_ sleep on his own whenever he could back in the Day. He was more than willing to let them essentially use his house as a hotel for the Night, as long as it was still standing and nothing was broken in the Morn. After all, _Triple A_ didn’t live very far from tonight’s venue, even if it wasn’t as close as the hotel they’d originally planned on staying in.

He made it quite clear that he didn’t particularly care what they chose–he wasn’t in the business of forcing them into something they didn’t wanna do. But they needed to let him know before he took off with the lil sedan they kept hitched to the back of the bus for when they wanted to explore tour stops on their Days off. If they didn’t wanna snap up the offer, they didn’t have to, but they’d be SOL if they Changed their minds later.

“No fuckin’ way am I sleeping on that bus another Night, if I don’t have to,” Bret laughed. “Don’t get me wrong–I love what we do and all, but some parts could _definitely_ be more enjoyable.”

“Now ya see how _I_ feel,” the older bassist chuckled. “I’d much rather spend the Night curled up with my girl, even if I’ve to drive twenty milesta get to her, versus another Night in my bunk alone.”

“Damn, they really _do_ live pretty closeta here, don’t they?” CC asked with a chuckle of his own.

“It’s technically _not_ in Nashville, but close enough for gov’ment work, as Aerin’d say,” Rob answered, nodding.

“Then I say let’s get going and hope we don’t wake anyone up when we get there,” the drummer said. “’Cuz it won’t be long before I _am_ ready for bed, even if I’m not now.”

Nodding his agreement, Rob double-checked his key ring as they headed back to their bus so they could grab more than just toiletries. After all, the vocalist needed to grab his insulin unless he wanted to be feeling pretty rough in the Morn, at the very least. Clean clothes’d also be a good idea for all of them, if they decided to grab another shower before they headed out again the next afternoon. Once those things’d been done, the sedan being unhitched from their bus while they were taking care of those things, the blondes all essentially put their Lives in Rob’s hands as they settled in all the passenger’s seats since he knew where they were going.


	18. Seventeen

Pulling up in Ash’s driveway not quite half an hour after leaving tonight’s venue, Rob couldn’t help his excitement as he parked outside the bay door that hid the younger bassist’s bikes. Even if this Night wasn’t turning out _quite_ the way he’d hoped upon seeing his girlfriend backstage, he couldn’t say it was Ending on a _completely_ bad note. He was definitely amused by his band’s expressions as they took in what lil of the exterior they could actually see in the Dark, though, which weren’t too dissimilar from his own the first Time he’d seen it in broad Daylight.

After they and their manager’d grabbed their bags from the trunk, he made sure their tour car was locked up before heading over to the garage door. His girlfriend hadn’t been kidding about the layout of the house taking some Time to memorize, but he’d nearly a Year of doing so under his belt. Considering where most of the guest Spaces were, he figured it’d be easier to enter on this side of the house and head up through the kitchen versus going through the front door.

The older bassist was quick to kill the alarm once he’d opened the door, which he knew would alert Ash and Aidan to their arrival, if they were still awake. Bret, Rikki, CC, and Bert all seemed a bit surprised that he’d know the alarm code to the house, which just made him snicker as he turned to lead them through the garage with the same warning his girlfriend had once given him. He kept his volume down as he started up the garage stairs, but told them it shouldn’t have been _that_ much of a surprise. After all, he’d been dating the young woman for nearly a Year, and with a bi-monthly trip up North, they’d have to give him the code eventually. Considering how he liked just showing up and surprising her, that made even more sense than making him pound on the front door or something.

When they emerged into the back hall that led from the kitchen to the upstairs entertainment room, Rob stepped into the kitchen enough for the guysta be able to see. He told them that one of the bathrooms was just at the End of this hall on the left, just in case anyone needed to go, but the others he was gonna point out to them were occupied and they didn’t feel like waiting. Nodding, they gestured for him to lead the way, which was what made him turn to head up the back stairs that were technically called _servants’ stairs_. He still wasn’t particularly fond of the paint Color–which Aerin’d finally told him was _Lark green_ for the walls, a Light _Mint green_ for the trim–but he was able to tolerate it.

“One of the guest Spaces is through that door,” the older bassist said, keeping his volume down as he pointed out the blue room he’d almost slept in the first Time he came here.

“I see a couch in there,” Rikki said. “It supposed to turn into a sofa bed or something?”

“Nah, but it’s a couple reclining seats in it, if y’all can handle that,” he answered. “Comfy enough for even me, and y’all know how my neck can act up sometimes.”

None of them could bite back a chuckle as he kicked his boots off, then against the baseboard so they were outta the way.

“Boots off, if you’re gonna follow me,” Rob told them. “I don’t need tapping boots on hardwood waking anyone up, if we can help it.”

“Gotta cross the fancy stuff to get to the other guest Spaces?” Bret asked, kicking his own boots off so he could pick them up.

“Fancy, compared to this carpet,” the older bassist chuckled.

Nodding, even their manager followed his lead after he’d set his own bag down just past one of the doorways that branched off the room they were currently in. After he’d done that, he headed for the doorway that’d lead to the main hall, not surprised when he heard a quartet of soft gasps behind him. Even in the Dark, the living room was quite the Majestic display, what with how it opened up and spanned the second story right above it just like the foyer did. Still, he made them keep it down as he led them past said foyer, knowing the actual guest rooms were on this side of the house.

“These two rooms’ve a _Jack-and-Jill_ bath, according to Aerin,” Rob told them. “Meaning whoever takes these two’ll have to share a toilet since I seem to recall each bedroom having its own sink.”

“I could use an _actual_ bed,” Rikki chuckled softly, disappearing into the doorway straight ahead of them.

None of the others could blame him, considering he beat himself up the most outta any of them since he was the drummer.

“I think I’ma have to claim the other actual bed,” the vocalist chuckled. “Ya know me and how much I like my privacy.”

“Yeah, that we do,” he snickered as he stepped aside to let him into the second guest room.

“Looks like we’re stuck with the couch,” CC said, smirking at their manager. “But hey, it’s better than those bunks, so I’ll take it.”

“Same here,” said manager agreed with a nod.

“I thought I heard voices up here.”

Turning to look toward the top of the front stairs, Rob wasn’t disappointed to see the homeowner, nor that he’d his pistol in hand. “Yeah, just getting these idiots settled for the Night.”

“I thought that was prolly why my alarm was disarmed, butcha know me–I don’t take any chances,” the younger bassist chuckled, engaging the safety on said pistol before tucking it into the back of his waistband as the others reappeared.

“Jeez, follow a friend and get greeted by a gun, huh?” Bret laughed.

“Rob knows I don’t take any chances,” he shot back, his grin belying any true malice. “Not after getting rid of a stalker a few Years ago.”

“I don’t blame ya, man,” the drummer chuckled, relaxing a bit.

Leaving their host to get these two settled with any extra bedding they needed, the older bassist took his manager and lead guitarist back to where they’d started upstairs. He said that the room he’d put his own bag down in was actually his girlfriend’s bathroom, and pretty much the only other one available for use, if they didn’t wanna go all the way back to the basement. He just hadn’t wanted to potentially wake her up any sooner than he _had_ to, which was why he hadn’t taken it straight into her bedroom. Other than that, he said that if even this door was closed, it prolly meant that he was in there, if it was before Dawn since Aerin’d prolly sleep till closer to Noon due to her painkiller.

Bert and CC nodded as they took their own bags into that last guest Space, which left him able to finally take his into his girlfriend’s bedroom. Just like he’d expected when he made to open the bathroom door that led into there, she was curled up almost in the Center of her bed, her covers pulled up to her chin. She appeared to be sleeping peacefully, judging by her deep, even breathing, which brought a smile to his face as he took care to keep quiet.

The young woman didn’t so much as squirm as he set his bag down in the floor at the foot of the bed, then turned to head back into the bathroom. He didn’t bother with turning the Light on till after he’d closed that connecting door again since he knew she couldn’t sleep with a Light on, even when she was drugged. She needed almost total blackness and dead Silenceta be able to sleep, and if he woke her up to the point that she couldn’t go back to sleep, he knew he’d have hell to pay. Luckily, he and the other two on this side of the house were able to get settled without waking her up before they decided to head back downstairs for a bit.

Rob managed to throw together a quick dinner for them, knowing that his younger equivalent wouldn’t make him pay him back unless he was in a particularly bad mood. While he was working on food, the guys were busy taking in the Beauty of the place, especially the back yard. Bret paused long enough to stow his insulin in the fridge, but was quick to join the others at the back door and various windows that overlooked the area.

None of them stayed up for more than an hour or so after they’d arrived and put their stuff down, considering that a tour was always exhausting. By the Time they’d eaten and loaded their dirty dishes into the dishwasher so it could be run overnight, they were all starting to run on fumes. Each of them took the staircase closest to wherever they were crashing for the Night, the older bassist quiet about entering his girlfriend’s room again. The only thing Aerin’d done was roll over so that she faced the balcony door now, which put him on the side of the bed closest to her hall door. He was able to get her to settle down again without really waking when pulling the covers back allowed a draft to waft down her back, smiling at the soft sigh she let out. It wasn’t long till their combined body heat and his own exhaustion knocked him out so that he didn’t hear a thing.

When Aerin awoke around nine the next Morn, her painkiller finally having worn off enough for her to be any form of coherent, her first Thought was that it felt a lil on the warm side in her room. She and Ash could sometimes fight over what the thermostat was set on, if only ’cuz he didn’t know the heat and humidity of the South nearly as well. What he thought felt fine was a bit stifling to her, especially since she didn’t deal with excessive heat very well to Begin with.

As she moved to stretch so she could pop as many joints as possible before she even stood up, she was startled enough to squeak at feeling a body behind hers. That certainly explained why it felt too warm in here, which made her rethink bitching out her best friend once he got up. But what she wanted to know was who the hell was in bed with her and why they were there since she somehow remembered being put to bed alone once her friends got her back home. Zach already knew damn good and well she’d kill him for looking at her wrong, considering he’d tried his hand at flirting with her one Time last Summer when his dad wasn’t around, if only to see how she’d respond.

Managing to roll over so she faced her hall door, she managed to see the very dad in question, which brought a sleepy smile to her face. She supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised that Rob’d manage to escape his tour so he could come spend the Night with her, even though she’d wound up drugged. They didn’t live but twenty or so miles South of where he’d played the Night previous, and she’d known their romps in his dressing room wouldn’t be enough for him. Not after three months of not getting to even hang out with her, let alone get any action with her before heading out West to start rehearsals.

_“Hmmm-mmmm,”_ he hummed as he felt her squirming against him.

_“Shhhh_ –go back to sleep, love,” the young woman whispered.

_“Mmmm,_ you’ve me wide awake now,” Rob murmured sleepily.

“Well, maybe not _wide_ awake,” she chuckled, gently tucking his hair behind his ear.

“Gimme five or ten minutes, and I _will_ be,” the older bassist said, groaning as she squirmed again. “Especially if ya keep doing _that.”_

Aerin couldn’t help a slightly mischievous giggle. “Not gonna happen unless I roll over again, unfortunately.”

“Still sore from last Night?” he asked, finally cracking open an eye.

“A lil, yeah–and I see no reason to aggravate it, if I ain’t gotta,” the young woman answered, nodding.

“Hey, I don’t mind taking ya from behind, if that’s the only way I can getcha,” Rob chuckled, even as he readjusted his head to kiss her. “But if you’re really not feeling up to it…”

“Never said that being taken from behind was gonna bother me,” she laughed, rolling over so she faced away from him again.

_“Mmmm,”_ the older bassist hummed, wrapping his arm around her waist again. “Shit, I could lay here like this for the rest of the Day, even without sex.”

“Uh, huh– _suuuurrrre,”_ Aerin said as she looked back over her shoulder, her hips pushing back against him.

He couldn’t help a groan as his own instinctively pressed against her, the softness of her ass delectable against his Morn Wood. Knowing he prolly wouldn’t get many, if any chances like this again till _after_ the tour’d Ended, he decided to take what he could get _while_ he could get it. Granted, that meant rolling over enough to reach into the drawer of her nightstand since he wasn’t in the mood to dig in his bag, but at least she’d what he sought still stashed away there.

The young woman couldn’t bite back her mewls as he got her good and worked up before bothering to rip open the lil foil packet he’d pulled out. Granted, she’d to roll over enough to roll the latex revealed down his shaft for him, considering he couldn’t do so left-handed worth a shit. But that just gave her an excuseta touch him–and therefore Return the favor–before rolling over to face away from him once again.

Rob couldn’t help a groan as he managed to get himself lined up, then push into her delectable warmth without hurting her. He was always amazed at how much tighter she always felt as compared to when she was facing him, considering she was already pretty tight for making fairly regular use of her toys when he wasn’t around. Then again, he was always amazed by the amount of suction applied to him when they faced the same Direction, too. That suction was always multiplied even more when she was face-down with her back arched, but even this felt better than being face-to-face. Maybe that was why–as much as he loved feeling her legs wrap around his waist–he loved this particular position even better.

Aerin mewled again as he managed to get both arms wrapped around her waist, his right hand making a beeline for her clit. She never felt as full in any other position as she did in this one, even though he was already more endowed than the average man. He might not have quite as much girth to deal with as Ash did–something she only knew from when he’d fall asleep on the couch and wake up with Wood–but it always felt like he did when facing the same Direction. She’d never once been able to say she felt a man to her navel during sex–till she’d met and started sleeping with this one.

_“Mmmm,”_ he hummed, having started a gentle rhythm they knew wouldn’t stay that way for long.

_“Ohhhh,_ Goddess,” the young woman mewled.

“So warm, so tight,” Rob groaned. “The best kinda vice on the Planet, if ya ask me.”

She couldn’t help a giggle, which just spurred him on as it caused her to twitch around him.

“Think that’s funny, huh?” the older bassist asked, giving her a bit sharper of a thrust.

_“Oh!”_ Aerin gasped, bucking back against him as she grabbed a fistful of her covers.

_“Ahhhh,_ I see,” he chuckled, sounding a bit devious. “Found it pretty quick this Time.”

The young woman actually cried out as she buried her face in her pillow, his fingers finally attacking her clit with a fervor she’d never gotten outta anyone else.

“Yeah, that’s right–sing for me, my lil Siren,” Rob growled, curling up a bit more so he could bite at her ears, neck, and shoulders.

Neither of them were even aware of CC shuffling into her bathroom from the other side so he could take his Morn piss, his blue eyes widening as he caught the Sounds of her mewling. Course, as long as he didn’t stick around to listen, they couldn’t really get mad at him since it wasn’t like he’d known what they were up to. He’d simply gotten up to take care of a normal bodily function at the worst moment, if he didn’t wanna overhear anything they didn’t want him hearing in the first place.

Luckily, the guitarist was quick to direct their manager down to the bathroom just down the hall from the kitchen, which saved him from having to hear anything. Heading out across what he called more of a catwalk than a hallway or balcony, he managed to corral the other two blondes in the guest suites. They’d started to ask him why he wouldn’t let him leave that area, but it’d soon become obvious when they heard staccato screams.

In her bedroom, Aerin was right at the brink that if he stopped now, her boyfriend might just get himself beaten at best, stabbed at worst. She didn’t have to worry about him stopping, though, ’cuz he was too closeta that same edge to stop without giving himself blue balls. That was certainly something he didn’t wanna have to deal with, whether it was a Day off or not, which kept him spurred into moving till she shrieked like a Banshee. Growling as he pulled her tighter against him, he was unaware of his band mates hearing those Sounds from the guest room doorways as he buried himself to the hilt.

“Well, _ooookay,_ then,” the vocalist chuckled.

“They certainly are a noisy pair, aren’t they?” Rikki asked with a chuckle of his own.

“They only do that to get _us_ back.”

Glancing down over the railing that overlooked the living room, they saw Ash grinning up at them, Bert shaking his head as he headed toward what they thought was the kitchen.

“Whaddaya mean, man?” CC asked, sounding curious.

“Just c’mon down, and I’ll explain it,” he laughed. “Karma or Kindness might get busted out on me, as it is.”

All three blondes looked confused, but headed down the front stairs as they ignored the whimpered mewl that rang out from behind the door immediately at the top of the stairs. They weren’t too sure what the younger bassist meant, but they knew one thing for sure–they didn’t wanna hear the aftermath of their friend getting his funk on. With that Thought in mind, they were more than glad to head downstairs and leave the other couple to it, no matter how many Times they went at it.

* * *

“Man, I can’t make sense of this–I don’t even know what I’m looking at!”

Getting to the bottom of the front staircase a short while later, Aerin couldn’t help cocking a brow as she and her boyfriend headed to the kitchen. Now that they’d gotten a third romp under their belts and grabbed a shower so they didn’t smell like a brothel, all they wanted was food. The young woman hadn’t even realized he hadn’t arrived alone till he’d told her while they were taking turns in the shower since it wasn’t big enough for both of them at once, the connecting door to her bedroom left open. But now she was well aware that the rest of Poison was actually in her house, and she knew her best friend coulda been referring to just about anything.

As they walked into the kitchen, she saw that Ash was holding a fairly small, but skinny tube with an orange cap on one End. It didn’t take her two secondsta realize he was holding a syringe, so it was pretty easy to guess what was going on. Bret’s vision was prolly still too blurry to draw up his Morn insulin dose, with or without glasses or contacts, so he’d asked for a bit of help before he wound up making himself sick.

“What’s your dose?” the young woman asked, surprising her best friends, the band, _and_ their manager as she snatched the syringe outta his hand.

_“Ummm…”_ Bret looked like he didn’t quite trust her.

“Ya want it drawn up correctly, or do ya wanna take your chances with sending yourself into insulin shock?” she asked, cocking a brow at him.

“I’d rather _not_ wind up in the hospital from _either_ End of the spectrum,” the vocalist admitted.

Aerin merely kept her brow cocked till he finally spit out the dosage he needed, based on what checking his sugar’d told him. “Now, what that _really_ so hard?” she asked as she pulled the orange cap off.

“Hey, I can’t help that I don’t trust just _anyone_ to draw up something so vital for me,” he retorted.

“And I don’t blame ya for that–I’d be the same way,” the young woman admitted as she pushed the lil Metal tip into the top of the vial she’d snatched up, which was now flipped upside-down. “But if I’d any Intent to kill ya and wanted to be devious about it, I’d do worse than just fuck up your insulin.”

“I’m not even sure I wanna know,” Rikki said, sounding a bit wary in his own right.

“Let’s just say that while I’m no Herbologist or anything, I know a few plants I could dry, add to sketti sauce, and have ya _think_ were just Basil or something when it’s really not,” Aerin chuckled.

Pulling the lil Metal tip back outta the rubbery top of the vial once she’d drawn up slightly more than actually necessary, she held it up in front of her face and studied it carefully. That was when she surprised even her boyfriend by flicking the plastic with her middle finger, which sent a couple small Air bubbles up to the top. Careful not to use too much force, she pushed up on the plunger slightly, sending those Air bubbles and a very small amount of the insulin out that lil Metal tip.

She wasn’t surprised when Bret rubbed his eyes before he actually took it once she held it out to him, then double-checked it as she put the insulin vial back in the fridge. _He was_ surprised to realize that she’d just drawn up the exact dosage he’d spit out almost as quickly as he usually did, himself when he could see straight. If she’d done anything differently, it was be even more careful than he typically was, as if she’d done this before, but was a bit outta practice. Considering that the young woman hadn’t just given him a dosage that was gonna leave him really sick unless he’d done his own math wrong, he decided not to argue the point as he shrugged and pushed that tip into his outer thigh.

“How’dja manage to do that so quickly?” the drummer asked.

“Even none of us–not even Bobby–can manage that without fuckin’ up _somehow,”_ CC agreed.

“Eh, I’ma lil outta practice now, but that ain’t the first Time I’ve done that,” she answered, shrugging.

Rob’s eyes widened as something suddenly clicked for him. “Guys, I’ll explain it later, if she’ll lemme–it’s not smart to get into this in front of her.”

“I don’t mind explaining this part myself, love,” Aerin said, shooting a smile up at him. “But I’m glad you’re looking out for me, either way.”

The rest of the guys looked confused as he shot her an uncertain look, but still pulled her back against his chest so he could hug her from behind.

“My pappaw–grampa, as y’all prolly say for the most part–was diabetic,” Aerin explained. “Started out as Type II mostly due to bad Lifestyle choices, but eventually morphed into Type I.”

“As is the case a lotta Times with Type II,” the vocalist said as he capped his syringe so he could lay it aside till it could be properly disposed of.

“The reason I’m outta practice–he died going on seven Years ago,” she continued, swallowing the tears that threatened to well up.

None of them missed how the older bassist marginally tightened his grip on her when he leaned down to nuzzle the top of her head.

“I was the one in charge of drawing up his insulin for him,” the young woman said. “’Cuz if I didn’t, he’d wind up doing it wrong. Too much in some rigs, too lil in others–he usually couldn’t see straight enough to do it, even _with_ his glasses, and neither could anyone else in the household.”

Even Bert winced at the pain written all over her face they knew had nothing to do with her arthritis.

“I’m not saying I could ever draw it up as quickly as a medical professional, but drawing insulin’s no problem for me,” Aerin told them. “Maybe I’m not as quick at it as even Bret, but then again, I’ve no reason to do it all the Time like he does.”

“Not to mention you’re insanely more careful about it than I am,” he chuckled. “I don’t ever take my Time quite like that, even when I’ve _plenty_ of Time.”

“So, I’ma bit of a perfectionist with shit like that,” the young woman laughed. “Bite me, and I’ma bite back– _hard.”_

Rob joined her laughter as he warned his band that she wasn’t kidding, ’cuz he’d found out the hard way one Time. He’d playfully bitten her shoulder ’cuz he’d been trying to rile her up, but she’d wanted nothing to do with his advances due to a migraine that’d been brewing. When she’d finally gotten tired of telling him to back off, she’d grabbed his hand and bitten right between his thumb and forefinger so hard, he’d almost thought she’d bitten right through any tendons and ligaments in that spot at first.

Not a Soul in the room could bite back a sympathetic wince as the young woman grinned sadistically, if only ’cuz he wasn’t the only one to use his hands for a living. If they weren’t some form of guitarist, they’d to use their handsta hold drumsticks–which wouldn’t be any easier than holding a pick or finger-picking, if they’d a busted hand.

Laughing as he and Ash moved to start on breakfast for everyone, the older bassist admitted that he’d learned real quick to back off when she told him to, no matter how horny he was. Otherwise, he pretty much didn’t bother unless it was the middle of the Night and he was making a Truth of an old Poison lyric. After all, she’d given him her consent to start a romp while she was asleep since she’d rather work _with_ his body than try to force it into something it didn’t wanna do. If she could get as much Time with him as possible by _not_ letting him pop Viagra or the like, she’d take the frustration sometimes caused by his body not wanting to cooperate till closer to the Witching Hour.

But the Times when Aerin’d be the one to start something and that happened, she’d her ways of somewhat forcing his body to bend to their Will. She couldn’t help a mischievous grin as her man let out a pleasured groan at the memory of what she did that he suspected would rile up just about any guy. Neither’d actually say what she did, if only ’cuz they could hear his kids coming up from the basement, but it was pretty obvious that he enjoyed the hell outta whatever it was. All they cared about was that he was happy, ’cuz none of them _truly_ wanted to know what these two did together beyond what they’d overheard earlier.


	19. Eighteen

“Do ya _wanna_ start looking like a bushy ol’ Mountain man, or have to Change your stage name to _Bobby Savage?_ ’Cuz the latter can _certainly_ be arranged.”

Even Aidan couldn’t help cracking up as everyone else watched Aerin forcibly hold her boyfriend’s head still by grabbing his chin. At the moment, he was settled in one of the wicker arm chairs from the patio set that Ash’d hauled down to the patio for her. That lowered him enough that she could actually see what she was doing, considering how much taller he was, but left him with his knees pretty much in his armpits from having to drape his legs over the arms of the chair. Course, having him in that position also forced him to sit up a bit straighter so he could breathe better, which kept her from having to bark at him about even that.

“Then sit still before I do just that–and _not_ by accident,” she told him.

“I very much _would not_ like to lose an eyebrow, damn it,” Rob grumbled. “But this doesn’t exactly feel good on my hips, ya know.”

“All too well I know it, love,” the young woman told him. “Sit still and lemme get this done, andja can get up from there quicker.”

Another grumble met her ears, two middle fingers answering his band and manager as they continued laughing at him.

“Y’all shut up, too, before I plunk _your_ asses down here and buzz off an eyebrow,” Aerin said, turning her attention back to her boyfriend’s face. “And you, quit scowling so I can actually tell what I’m doing.”

CC couldn’t help another laugh as he commented on her definitely not being one to take a man’s shit, even if she was dating the man in question. Turning her trimmer back on, she was careful to keep her touch gentle as she tackled Rob’s brows since they were starting to get a lil bushy, even as she retorted that she wasn’t taking _anyone’s_ shit. Since his kids weren’t within earshot, she said that if he’d trust her with a sharp object near his junk, a trimmer at his eyebrow shouldn’t be that hard to handle.

The rest of his band looked surprised when she said that, the older bassist’s face turning pink as he sighed and admitted that she’d a point. He just didn’t like anyone else’s hands in his face, so when combined with being a hyperactive Scorpio to Begin with, it made him antsy. But even when she’d to pull the trimmer away before she fucked up and popped him upside the head for squirming, he’d to admit she was better at this than he was.

It was Rikki who shot him a grin as he asked if he really trusted her with sharp objects near his crotch, to which he responded with another flip of the Bird. Laughing as she continued what she was working on, Aerin told him that it technically wasn’t anyone’s business but their own, but he most certainly did. Granted, that hadn’t happened till she’d showed more or less the same Trust in him, for which she’d a damn good reason. Few knew what she preferred when it came to shaving, and she generally preferred to keep it that way, but she was willing to open up this Time.

“Whether it’s just some weird spots on my legs or _other_ places, it’s not very easy for me to shave sometimes,” she said. “Easier to let _him_ do it for me, as long as he can keep himself under Control while he’s doing it.”

“I guess I can understand that,” the drummer agreed, nodding.

“Well, when he tackles those _other places,_ he’s to do the same,” Aerin said. “Irritates areas that’re _waaaay_ to sensitive to stand it, if he doesn’t.”

“But lemme guess–not very easy for him to manage on his own, right?” CC asked with a chuckle. “’Cuz God knows _I’m_ not that flexible.”

“Neither am I, damn it,” the older bassist grumbled. “Hence why I didn’t used to do such a thing.”

“Well, once I entrusted him with a razor so closeta my clit, he decided to take a chance with me taking a razor to _his_ crotch and not maiming him,” the young woman chuckled. “It’s a give-and-take, but it works out.”

“Only reason I put up with the itching’s ’cuz it works out pretty good for tour,” Rob said. “At least I don’t smell like a brothel, even when I just showered, from the BO.”

“I feel ya, man,” the younger bassist laughed. “Aside from just liking the sensation, that _is_ a good reason to put up with that particular trade-off.”

“Sounds like you’ve quite a few talents, though–and I _don’t_ mean that in a dirty way,” Bret said, steering the conversation onto a different set of tracks. “Speaking of, we never got to tell ya how awesome ya were last Night since we were all worried after that spill ya took, andja were gone by the Time we got offstage again.”

Aerin couldn’t help flushing as the other pair of blondes and their manager joined him in singing their praises at her shocking ability. They wouldn’t have thought she possessed a voice like that at first glance, if only ’cuz her conversational voice was so much different than her singing voice. Even though it’d a bit of a Melodic Sound and could even be said to have a bit of a musical Cadenceta it, it was nothing like the latter, as far as any of them were concerned.

Rob chuckled and gently pulled her down to give her a quick kiss before she moved from his left eyebrow to the right. He knew she was incredibly shy about any of her talents, not to mention flirting with someone she was attracted to. That was part of why he’d been surprised that she’d actually agreed to his idea last Night, and hoped she’d agree to his next one–which he bit back till she wouldn’t risk trimming an eyebrow clean off.

“Honestly, I could share a stage with ya _every_ Night, if that was what we were gonna get outta ya,” the vocalist chuckled.

“Eh, not too sure I’d actually agree to that,” she told him.

“She’s insanely shy about her voice, guys,” Ash explained when they started to ask. “Remember how she said she was abused in various ways last Night?”

“Yeah, and we weren’t gonna ask about that,” the drummer answered.

“Well, let’s just say her singing was one of the ways she was abused and leave it at that till she’s outta earshot,” he told them. “Even though she’s more or less at a point that she doesn’t give a fuck about what others say, there’re Times where she can still get insecure about it.”

“I think we all do at one point or another,” Bret said. “Fuck, I’ve been in this business for upwards of thirty Years, and I _still_ have my moments.”

“Wouldn’t know it when you’re onstage,” Aerin laughed.

“That’s ’cuz I basically force myself into a certain mindset,” he retorted with a grin.

“It’s called compartmentalizing,” the young woman told him. “You’re basically flipping certain Emotions off like a Light switch, then turning ’em back on later.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly it!” he agreed. “I just never knew there was a word for it.”

“Well, now ya do.” She was quick to finish off the task at hand, which included a bit of shaping, so her antsy boyfriend could reach up to wipe off any loose hairs irritating his face. “Take a look and make sure I didn’t take it a lil too far with all your squirming.”

Taking the mirror she handed him, Rob carefully appraised her work while she was cleaning out her trimmer, nodding slightly. He said that they were even enough that one wasn’t gonna be able to tell if one’d been trimmed a bit too much from a distance, so he was happy enough. Either way, she was still a helluva lot better at shaping and thinning out eyebrows than he was, ’cuz his attempts damn near always left them lopsided. If he’d to be driven nuts by sitting still in a slightly uncomfortable position for a lil while to have even eyebrows, he’d deal with it versus having to face the public lopsided–or with _no_ eyebrows at all.

Once he took off to go dive into the pool for a bit, the blondes that made up the rest of his band focused their attention on Aerin again. Whether they could talk her into joining them to help with _Something to Believe In_ for the rest of the tour or not, they wanted to hear more of her singing. She bit her lip for a few moments, then shot a hard look at the vocalist as her boyfriend Surfaced for Air and shook his hair outta his face.

As said older bassist swam over to the edge of the pool so he could cross his arms on the pool deck, she said that he’d better not make the slightest complaint in her choice of which song to do. She was just in one of those moods where she needed something cathartic, but she wasn’t in the mood to do the song she’d just done last Night. It was ’cuz of that that she decided on a different Poison song that allowed her to hit just as high of notes, maybe even higher, and was just as cathartic for her.

_“On a cold Night in a hotel in New Orleans…came the final blow… And somehow, somewhere, we lost sight in our search for that…pot of Gold,”_ the young woman sang, her ear buds now in so she wouldn’t mess up from hearing any of their comments.

“Damn, that’s higher than even _I’ve_ heard her manage before,” Ash mused.

“She’s a helluva voice, _that’s_ for sure,” the band’s manager said with a nod.

_“And all that happened, I don’t understand_ – _could somebody here, somebody here please explain to me, ’cuz I’m feelin’ so damn deceived,”_ Aerin continued. _“And I can’t run, can’t hide, can’t get nothin’ right lately_ – _theatre of my Soul… Play on, child.”_

The younger bassist’s eyes widened as much as her boyfriend’s did, the reason why this song was so cathartic for her hitting them like bricks between the eyes.

_“Ashesta ashes, Light the good Lord lays us down… Dust to dust_ – _oh, no,”_ the young woman sang, still hitting some ridiculously high notes. _“The Time has come to lay to rest the Years_ – _all the Years it took this heart to trust…”_

Even Rikki was at a loss for words at the amount of Emotion once again in her voice.

_“Maybe too much, too soon_ – _I couldn’t get my head on straight… All that worry, just wasted Time_ – _now it’s much too late to save it!”_

The look on Aerin’s face was one of pure Emotional agony, but all of them could feel an odd Power radiating from her that only Rob’d felt before now.

_“Long forgotten Midnight dancer…plays her final role! The curtain falls and I’m still standin’…in the theatre of my Soul… You left in vain_ – _could someone please explain, and I said…”_

The young woman let her chin drop down during Richie’s solo, her foot tapping as she awaited her next cue.

_“I know that nothin’s the same, ridin’ blind on the Winds of Change_ – _but in my head, that scene just keeps on playin’!”_

Even her boyfriend was enraptured by how she Changed keys for that part, apparently unable to maintain those ungodly high notes, if she wanted to stay in tune with Bret.

_“Long forgotten Midnight dancer…plays her final role_ – _oh, yeah, she does! The curtain falls and I’m still standin’…in the theatre of my Soul… Well, Time, it just keeps on passin’_ – _I gotta let it go, let it roll, let it roll, let it roll, let it roll! I keep searchin’ for those long, lost answers…in the theatre of my Soul! Theatre of my Soul…”_

The young woman wasn’t exactly surprised to be confronted by some serious applause once she let that last note fade away and pulled out her ear buds. Even though he’d heard her plenty of Times before, Ash was just as surprised and Awed at her singing as everyone else was. She couldn’t help the blush that crept up her throat and face at their cheers and applause, even as her boyfriend pushed himself up outta the pool so he could come over and hug her.

“Okay, I can’t say I like _any_ of that album, even all these Years later,” Bret admitted, unable to help a grin. “But _day-um,_ girl–you’ve a way with your voice I’d fuckin’ kill to have.”

_“Molto grazie,”_ she said, sounding almost shy as she snuggled into the older bassist’s embrace.

“He’s definitely not kidding,” Rikki chuckled. “I dunno how ya do it, but even I’d kill to learn how.”

“It’s more of an innate thing than something I learned,” Aerin admitted. “Not everyone’s a Music Witch, after all.”

“Wait, what?” This was asked by the lead guitarist, who looked as surprised as he did confused.

“The long and short of it–I’m as Pagan to my very marrow as I am stubborn,” the young woman answered. “There’s various different types of Witches, if one really wantsta put a label on it. Personally, I tend to go with _Eclectic Witch,_ ’cuz my interests’re so varied, but a couple of the specialized titles that fit me are _Music Witch_ and _Crystal Witch.”_

“What’s that supposed to mean exactly, though?” he asked, his brows furrowed.

“Well, first of all, my Primary Element’s Air–that means things like Ghosts, Invisibility, and various things associated with that Element fall into my Realm, as it were,” Aerin said. “What Element do _y’all_ think Music’d fall into?”

“Air, most definitely,” the drummer answered. “It _uses_ the Air to transport itself, just like any other Sound.”

“Bingo.” The young woman grinned as she chuckled. “Kinda like Storms and Weather, in general, fall into Air’s Realm, too.”

Even Ash and Aidan were enthralled as she went on to say that just like a Storm could make her feel highly empowered–which was part of the reason she wasn’t scared of them till they started doing shit like producing Twisters–Music could be just as empowering for her. But it also caused her own Power to come out in ways it didn’t normally do, which was why she could put so much Emotion into her singing. That was also why said talent usually had such a profound effect on others when they heard it, and why she often described herself as a bit of a Siren as a result.

Aerin denied bewitching men and leading them to their Deaths like the Sirens of Greek Mythology, but she wouldn’t deny that her singing could sometimes have an unintended effect. Her boyfriend and best friend both blushed and admitted that she was right, that there were Times when they seemingly had no Self-Control when it came to their wayward manhoods ’cuz of her singing.

However, this particular conversation finally gave said older bassist the perfect opening to pose his most recent idea to not only her, but the rest of his band. Bret’d already said he definitely wouldn’t mind her joining them for the rest of the tour so they could have her help them with _Something to Believe In,_ and it didn’t seem like the other two blondes were thinking any differently. The only thing he really had to worry about besides her saying no was Controlling himself, when it came to his hyperactive libido.

“I think it’d be good for ya, sis,” Ash said. “It’d help ya gain Confidence in yourself and your abilities, for sure.”

“And it’s not like you’d be alone, even if Ash and I _weren’t_ there,” the ginger agreed. “Even if ya dunno the rest of Poison very well, Rob’d be right there with ya while you’re onstage.”

“Ya could think of it like singing to just him where you’re here at the house, or down at his place,” he added. “Use it like public speakers do when they’re imagining a crowd nekkid, and it’d help keep ya from freakin’ out.”

“They’ve some solid points, girl,” Rikki chuckled.

“Yeah, you’re never really gonna get any better without practice–which ya seem to have plenty of already–and pushing yourself outta your Comfort zone sometimes,” the lead guitarist agreed.

“Only ’cuz Rob’s gonna be there with me am I gonna agree to this,” Aerin finally sighed.

“Hey, if ya don’t wanna, we’re not gonna make ya,” the older bassist swore, gently making her look up at him.

“Kinda like when I said I wanted a _different_ kinda fun last Night, I _do_ wanna,” she told him.

“Well, you’ve till at least this afternoon to _really_ think it over,” Bert spoke up. “That’s the earliest we’ve to leave in order to get to Cincinnati on Time–otherwise, we technically don’t have to leave till early tomorrow Morn, if the guys don’t wanna explore their next tour stop before the next show.”

“I’m content just to kick back right here,” CC chuckled, slouching down in the chair he’d claimed and lacing his hands behind his head.

“Same here,” the drummer and vocalist agreed as they mimicked him.

“Already seen enough of Cincinnati over the Years, as many Times as we’ve played there over the Years,” Bret said.

“And God knows we can escape any racket Bobby decidesta make by hiding in the basement here,” the lead guitarist snickered.

Said bassist answered him by flinging a throw pillow in his Direction, which made even his girlfriend laugh as it beaned him right in the face. Rob said that his sex Life–or even a lack thereof–absolutely _was not_ a topic for conversation, ’cuz it was none of their business. If they wanted them to know what they did and when, they’d be invited to join in on a threesome, but he could safely say _that_ wasn’t gonna happen.

Having made up her mind since going with them’d give her more Time with her man, Aerin decided that she might as well go get cracking on packing her own bag. Another thing that she wanted to do was take her own bass, even if it didn’t actually get used onstage, just so she’d have it if that happened. She generally didn’t like messing with the older bassist’s gear since he was just as picky about who did as she was with her own. Besides, she generally liked the Sound of hers better, which was something they could test out during Sound check to make any necessary adjustments.

Rob couldn’t deny being ecstatic that his girlfriend hadn’t freaked and refused to join them for any reason beyond keeping him sane for the majority of the tour. He kinda Wished that he’d posed this idea to his band long before they’d even started rehearsing, but he blamed not thinking of it sooner on a few different things. But even a mid-tour Change like this wasn’t necessarily a bad one, ’cuz it allowed them to keep fans on their toes–which was something they loved doing.


	20. Nineteen

_July, 2021_

_Charlotte, North Carolina_

For the next week and a-half or so, things went absolutely swimmingly for all of Poison, their crew, and the young woman who’d been talked into joining them. Despite having a bit of insecurity at first, she managed to get through the show in Cincinnati as easily as she’d gotten through the one in Nashville. In fact, she’d managed to get through it even easier, if she were honest with herself, ’cuz she made sure not to repeat the painful mistake that’d landed her drugged on Percocet that particular Night.

Judging by the articles that started appearing on various rock magazines’ websites the very next Day, fans were loving seeing her get out there with the veteran rockers. They thought she was able to add a dynamic to the songs she joined them for that’d been missing pretty much since the songs in question were written. Now that that dynamic’d been found and added, none of the fans wanted to see it disappear again, even if they didn’t quite know how they’d even met her. Even though they were curious about that particular part, they just wanted to see the party keep going like it was, rather than something go wrong to End it too soon.

As they rolled into the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, though, Aerin couldn’t help the Anxiety that settled over her that even her boyfriend had never seen before. He was the only one who knew they were in her home State, if only ’cuz she still hadn’t opened up to the rest of the band about her Past. But he’d never seen her so nervous that he thought they might have to drug her with Xanax just to get her through the show.

“Jeez, girl,” Bret said when her shaking hands made her hit a wrong note as they ran through _Something to Believe In_ during Sound check.

“What’s up, Aerin?” the drummer asked into his headset from his kit. “We’ve never seen ya like this before.”

“Pre-show jitters is one thing, but this is a whole different level,” CC agreed.

Rob rose from where he’d been settled behind his keyboard, his touch gentle as he used a thumb under her chin to get her to look up at him. “Do ya want me to tell ’em, sweetheart?”

The young woman bit her lip anxiously, then finally nodded as she pulled her strap over her head. “I’m heading back to our dressing room for a few minutes while ya do.”

“All right,” he agreed, pulling her into a gentle embrace as she handed her bass off to their now-shared tech. “I’ll come getcha once it’s safe.”

Nodding, she turned and hauled ass backstage, not wanting to be present for this by any means.

Sighing as he turned his attention to the rest of his band, the older bassist decided that it was prolly better to call an End to Sound check since their gear was sounding good, anywhore. He settled on the edge of the stage so his legs hung off the edge from the knee down, the others joining him after handing off shit like their guitars and sticks. They were all worried about the young woman, but prolly none more so than her boyfriend as he took a deep breath.

“I wasn’t gonna say anything at first, but we’re in her home State,” Rob said once they were settled close enough for him to keep his voice down.

“We are?” the drummer asked, looking surprised. “But she’s the accent of a Tennessean.”

“Remember what she said about half her family being from Central-Eastern Tennessee?” he asked dryly, giving him a look outta the corner of his eye.

“Duh, that’s right,” Rikki said as he face-palmed. “All right, so what’s being in her home State got to do with how anxious she is?”

“If you’ll recall what Ash said about her being abused…” the older bassist trailed off.

All three blondes nodded and waited for him to continue.

“Her biggest abuser was her mother, according to both of them,” Rob said. “Mental, Emotional, verbal–pretty much the only ways that woman _didn’t_ abuse her were physically and sexually.”

“Jesus fuck,” Bret breathed, his eyes the size of dinner plates.

“It was her mother who made her insecurity with her singing so bad,” he continued. “Apparently, pretty much from the Time she was twelve or so, she told her every chance she got that she sounded like–and I quote– _a Cat in heat getting its tail stomped on.”_

“That’s fuckin’ ridiculous!” CC spat, looking downright furious. “Aerin’s a better voice than even me and Bret combined!”

“Normally, I’d be taking offense at that kinda comparison, but he’s right,” said vocalist agreed.

The older bassist nodded his own agreement as he went on to say that another one of the ways his girlfriend had been abused by her mother wasta be told that she’d never amount to anything in Life. Not only that, but practically being forced into doing all the chores around her mother’s house like she was Cinderella or some kinda slave no doubt hadn’t helped with her arthritis, which hadn’t been diagnosed at the Time. It was a pretty safe bet that being back in her home State dredged up memories she didn’t wanna deal with, worse than even performing _Something to Believe In_ and _Every Rose_ did.

However, Rob knew his girlfriend well enough to know that she’d another worry about tonight, just ’cuz they were in her home State. According to her, she was from a small town three-to-four hours from Charlotte, so it wasn’t outside the Realm of Possibility that her mother’d ticketsta tonight’s show. If she’d backstage passes for the meet-and-greet, too, the young woman’d End up having to face her biggest abuser head-on.

“Well, we could always have her banned,” Rikki said. “All we’ve to do’s give a picture of her to security, and they can keep her from even entering.”

“Aerin’s not like that,” he told him, shaking his head. “Besides, she’s apparently intelligent enough to know a specific person’d gotten her banned, if we singled her out like that.”

“He’s a point, as much as I hate to admit it,” the vocalist agreed. “We’d be better off saying that _everyone_ fitting her description wasta be banned, if we were gonna do that.”

“And there’s a _lotta_ people with dyed-blonde hair and hazel eyes,” Rob said. “Enough that we’d be banning possibly hundreds of folks just to keep _one_ in particular out.”

“All right, so we don’t do that, but just keep Aerin near us,” the drummer suggested. “At least then, we’ll be nearby, if this bitch _does_ show up and she needs us for _anything.”_

“Sounds like as good a plan as any to me,” CC agreed. The Sage tone to his voice was uncharacteristic for him, but he couldn’t help it since he was starting to care about this girl in his own way.

Nodding, the older bassist made to get up so he could head backstage again and actually check on his girlfriend. He hoped and prayed to any Deity that’d listen to him that they wouldn’t actually have to drug her just to get through the show, nor afterward. The last thing he wanted wasta have to deal with her when she was high as a kite ’cuz that was the only way to keep her from losing her shit.

Later that Night, Aerin was relieved to’ve gotten through the show without royally fuckin’ up and making both herself _and_ the band look like total morons. She’d wound up putting more Emotion than ever into her performance tonight, mostly ’cuz of the shit that’d already been running through her head all Day. But it’d made this show prolly one of the best yet, and she knew her boyfriend and his band were all more proud of her than they could put into words. That made her Confidence grow a lil bit, but not by much since she was still so high-strung at the moment.

Backstage as they waited for the doorsta be opened to allow entry to those with backstage passes, she settled in Rob’s lap at their table. To their left was Joan Jett and her band, and to their right was Def Leppard–the tour’s headliner was the last in line on the other side of the British band. She was still a bit worried about her mother showing up, but she forced that Thought from her mind as the fans were finally let in.

Since she’d pretty much become a fifth member of the band temporarily, the young woman acted like she’d always been such. Greeting the fans, signing various merch–which she used her boyfriend’s rule of thumb for–and posing for photo ops’d become a sorta new norm for her. But she loved every second of it, even when she got a lil flustered and had to all but beat a few guys off with a stick ’cuz–unbeknownst to said guys–she was happily taken and far from interested in them. That was the very reason she didn’t notice her worst nightmare walk through the doors at the back of the line as she rose from her man’s lap for yet another one of those photo ops with a couple fans.

Due to having never seen a picture of her, not even the older bassist realized his girlfriend’s estranged mother’d walked in. Even if he hadn’t been so busy signing merch and taking pictures with a handful of fans here and there, he wouldn’t have known to warn Aerin before things could get ugly. But even if he _had_ been able to warn her, he wouldn’t have had any idea just how ugly things could potentially get once mother and daughter clapped eyes on one another again.

“So, _this_ is where ya ran off to.”

Eyes widening as that familiar voice met her ears, the young woman’s head snapped up so quick, she almost head-butted her boyfriend in the chin.

“What the–” Bret started, only to cut himself off when he saw how pale she was. “Rebel, ya all right?”

“If being a band whore’s _your_ definition of _all right,”_ the middle-aged woman standing in front of their table snarked before she could get a chanceta answer.

“Hey, that was uncalled-for, lady,” the lead guitarist snapped as he rose from his seat.

“Well, that’s what she is,” she said, rolling her eyes.

The woman’s identity suddenly clicked for Rob as he realized how similar this woman looked to his girlfriend, and he couldn’t help his scowl. “If you’re who I _think_ ya are, ya can _forget_ me signing even a napkin for ya.”

“Whaddaya mean, Bobby?” the drummer asked, shooting him a confused look from their vocalist’s other side.

“I’ll suck my own dick, if this ain’t her mother,” he spat, hugging his girlfriend tightly.

Even the other bands heard him, their jaws dropping as they watched what was unfolding along with the few remaining fans.

“You’re damn right, I’m her mother,” she spat in response. “Although, I ain’t too sure if that’s anything to take Pride in anymore.”

Aerin didn’t say a word through it all, merely clinging to her boyfriend almost desperately.

“I raisedja better than to become a band whore, andja damn well know it!”

“Hey, that’s enough.”

Glancing to his right, the older bassist saw none other than Nikki Sixx approaching their table, a proverbial Thunder Cloud on his face.

“Lady, I don’t give a fuck if you’re her mother or not–that’s no way to talk to anyone,” he growled as even his own drummer joined him.

“Ya got two choices,” Tommy told her. “Offer your apologies, or get thrown out on your ass. ’Cuz if _Bobby_ doesn’t make sure of it, _we_ will.”

“I ain’t apologizing for telling the Truth!” the woman snapped. “She was raised to work for what she got, not ride someone else’s coattails or trade sex for a better standard of Life!”

“Maybe I _was,_ but what I do with my Life’s none of your business.”

All four bands turned their attention to the younger woman, who now looked even more furious than Nikki and Tommy combined.

“So what, if I left like a thief in the Night?” Aerin growled, pushing herself up outta her boyfriend’s lap. “Ya were _never_ my mother in any sense beyond the biological, just like I said in that letter I left when I took off.”

“I was so! I was the one to raise ya–” she started, only to get cut off by the young woman jumping over their table.

Veritably screeching at her, the young woman was quick to back her into a corner, now that her temper’d been ignited. She threw every possible fault she could think of back in her mother’s face, up to and including how she’d given her younger brother preferential treatment ever since he was born. For nearly nineteen Years, she’d to put up with being shoved into a proverbial corner to the point that she couldn’t even get her to play a board game with her one-on-one, and she’d gotten sick of it.

Her mother looked shocked that she was letting all this out in front of so many witnesses, but there seemed to be something else that caused that reaction. None of the bands were quite sure what could possibly fuel her shock, but they were all smart enough to stay back. Things might just turn uglier than they already were, if they dared to try intervening, and none of them wanted such a thing to happen.

A sudden _crack!_ that practically echoed through the room took all of them by surprise, ’cuz they hadn’t even seen the older woman’s hand rise before it connected with her daughter’s face. Said daughter was slow to turn to face her again, and Rob knew what was coming next, as well as he’d gotten to know her. He wasn’t the least bit surprised when she cocked her own arm back and landed such a dazing blow to her jaw that it was no Wonder her mother lost her footing and hit the floor. The blow didn’t knock her out by any means, but it certainly couldn’t have felt good, considering how hard at least Poison’d watched her hit Ash last week.

“I fuckin’ _dare ya_ to get up from there and hit me again, bitch,” Aerin spat as she loomed over her. “’Cuz I’ll be damned, if I let shit like your minimal Krav Maga training scare me anymore.”

Her mother just gaped up at her as if she were shocked that she’d actually hit her back.

“I’ve nothing, and I do mean _nothing,_ left to say to you, Kat,” the young woman snarled. “You’ve never been my mother, you’re not now, andja never will be.”

“I–” Kat started, only to get cut off by her daughter.

“Fuckin’ save it,” she snapped. “I’ll take the loving words and gestures from my _boyfriend_ over your shallow words, abuse, and lack of _any_ Affection.”

The older woman looked like she wanted to deny the accusation, but wasn’t give a chance.

“Security, get her outta here before I get myself arrested for fuckin’ killing her,” Aerin said. “’Cuz I can’t guarantee even Rob’ll be able to hold me back, if she pushes anymore of my buttons.”

“Ya heard her, guys–get the bitch outta here,” Nikki snapped when not a single guard moved to comply at first.

“Yes, sir, Mr. Sixx,” one finally said, moving to grab the older woman’s arm and haul her up to her feet.

Finally jolted from his shock, the Silver Fox launched himself up outta his seat and rounded his table so he could grab his girlfriend. Ignoring her mother’s irate shrieking as she was quite literally dragged out by the security guards, he gently bushed back the hair of the woman he loved. He couldn’t help wincing at the sight of the shiner forming across her cheek from temple to chin, which just enraged him. Even though she’d given as good as she’d gotten, if not better, it hurt deep inside to know that he hadn’t been able to protect her from the blow that’d caused it.

Rob pulled her into a tight hug, uncaring of what any lingering fans said or thought as he rocked her as gently as he could manage. He could feel the young woman’s shaking as the adrenaline wore off and her Anxiety kicked in again tenfold compared to what it’d been earlier that Day. Seeing her abuser again after thinking herself rid of the bitch couldn’t have been easy, especially when she took her past abuse to a whole new level. Course, that meant charges could be pressed against her, but he wasn’t gonna worry about that right now.

“Holy fuckin’ shit.”

Looking up, he saw that Nikki’d approached them, but was careful to keep his distance just in case she lashed out.

“Hon, are ya all right?” he asked, gentle about making her look at him.

“Other than my face and hand hurting like a bitch, I’m fine physically,” Aerin answered with a heavy sigh. “Mentally–eh, it’ll take a while to get my head on straight again.”

“I imagine so,” the Mötley bassist chuckled. “I remember having to face my own mother after the shit she put _me_ through growing up–definitely not the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”

“Trust me when I say we’ve so much in common, it’s downright scary sometimes,” she chuckled.

“She’s not kidding, man,” Rob agreed with a chuckle of his own. “I’ve read your books–other than a difference in political views, she’s practically a younger, female version of you.”

“All right, now that’s definitely freaky,” Nikki laughed. “We might have to actually sit down and talk between all the shit we’ve to do on one of our collective Days off.”

“Maybe,” the young woman agreed. “I doubt it’ll be tomorrow, though, and not ’cuz we’re literally on the road.”

He couldn’t help cocking a brow curiously.

“I doubt you’re gonna wanna be around someone who’s high as a kite, as hard as you’ve worked to get and stay clean,” Aerin chuckled. “And if I’m not high as a kite, even tomorrow afternoon, I’ll eat my own foot.”

“Percocet kinda Night, sweetheart?” her boyfriend asked, much to the other bassist’s surprise.

“Trust me when I say that woman hits harder than you’d think,” she told him. “Hell, I’d an instantaneous migraine before I ever hit her back, and besides, my hip’s starting to act up from where that blow threw me off-balance.”

Nodding, Rob looked up at the Mötley bassist and said he’d explain it once they all got a chanceta meet up, but she’d a reason for wanting something stronger than aspirin tonight. Considering how she got when her head was killing her like this, though, he decided that he was gonna leave the meet-and-greet early with her so he could keep an eye on her. He apologized to the few remaining fans who’d wanted to meet him, but his girlfriend was his top priority right now.

On Poison’s bus, the young woman went to change into her pajamas while he was working on a snack for her so she could actually take her painkiller. She was glad that she’d a couple Days till their next show in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which was a solo date the others on the roster _weren’t_ doing. As bad as her head was killing her from that blow, she knew there was no way in Hell she’d be able to perform before then. Hell, she’d daresay it’d be all she could do to go onstage with her man and his band then, ’cuz the migraine still might not’ve completely faded, even after two Days.

The older bassist headed into the bunk room with Aerin’s snack to find her already curled up in their bunk, all the Lights turned off. He wasn’t the slightest bit surprised by that as he settled in the floor next to her head with a sigh, given how she normally acted with any amount of a headache. No doubt her head was throbbing as hard as his cock did when he was painfully aroused, which was prolly making her vision blurry.

After she’d managed to choke down her snack and take her painkiller, Rob took care of her trash before quietly heading back into the venue. He wasn’t disappointed to find his band coming outta their dressing rooms after grabbing a quick shower, the other bands hot on their heels. The trio of blondes nodded when he told them to keep quiet as they boarded the bus, that he’d actually watched his girlfriend go cross-eyed from the pain as she’d eaten. He wanted her to stay asleep for as long as possible so she could get rid of that migraine, and their being too noisy wouldn’t help that. But as he turned to head back to the bus with them, Nikki was quick to stop him so they could nail down a tentative Time to meet up so they could talk later on.


	21. Twenty

_San Diego, California_

It was nearly two weeks after that oh, so eventful show in Charlotte before all the bands were in the same spot, and therefore really had a chanceta socialize with each other. Just about every Day off between that and the show at the Petco Park in San Diego was already filled up with interviews, various band members wanted to go exploring, or they just wanted to keep to themselves and relax. At least Poison’d gotten word that Kat’d finally been arrested, then charged with assault-and-battery, for hitting her daughter unprovoked–and in front of so many witnesses, to boot.

Having woken up quite a bit earlier than her boyfriend or any of his band members on this particular Day, Aerin’d decided to go ahead and do her part of Sound check early. She’d been working on learning a completely different song in her spare Time, and it took her mind off her mother better than anything else. After all, she wasn’t looking forward to having to go back to Charlotte after the tour Ended to give her formal statement.

The young woman was about to round out her song of choice when the devil who’d written it, himself walked in. He’d a woman at his side that she recognized well enough and a lil girl snuggled against his chest, his fingers tickling her ribs as he walked. Said lil girl squealed and giggled madly, flailing and accidentally popping him one across the cheek as she tried to get him to stop. Nikki merely laughed and caught her lil fist in his, kissing her cheek as he stopped just below where she stood on the stage, her bass hanging from her shoulder.

“Sounding pretty good, Rebel,” he chuckled once she muted her strings. “Ya still need some work in a few places, though.”

“I know, I know, he who wrote it,” Aerin laughed, pulling her strap over her head. “We can’t all be Bass Gods like you.”

“Now, I wouldn’t say _that,”_ the Mötley bassist denied, actually turning a bit pink.

“Compared to me, yeah, ya are,” she insisted, sliding down off the edge of the stage.

“Well, I wanna introduce ya to my wife, Courtney, and our daughter, Ruby,” Nikki said once she’d joined them.

 _“Buon pomeriggio, bambina,”_ the young woman chuckled, offering her fingersta the toddler.

 _“Eh?”_ Ruby looked as confused as her parents, but still grabbed her fingertips.

“I said, _Good afternoon, baby girl,”_ Aerin said, grinning at her.

“Af’oon!” the lil girl giggled, her bright smile Returning.

“I don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to be said in Spanish,” the Mötley bassist chuckled. “But you’d prolly be better off asking Vince or T-bone.”

“It’s not, ’cuz that wasn’t Spanish,” she told him. “It was Italian.”

“Wow, a woman who can speak more than one language,” Courtney said. “Not many can say they’ve that ability.”

“Not really,” the young woman denied. “I can speak bits and pieces of a few different languages, but Italian’s the one I’m best at outta all of ’em.”

_“Sì, la mia piccola Musica Strega.”_

Turning to glance over her shoulder, Aerin saw her sleepy, barely-dressed boyfriend joining them. _“Bene, buon pomeriggio, il mio d’Argento Volpe.”_

The Silver Fox in question hummed as he pulled her against him for a kiss.

Nikki couldn’t help a chuckle as he commented on knowing the feeling before introducing him to his wife and daughter. Said toddler cocked her head at him, almost as if wondering why Rob looked about the same age as her daddy, but had gray hair instead of black. He let out a chuckle of his own as he reached out to let her grab his fingers much like his girlfriend had done, neither of them saying he was actually about five Years younger than the daddy in question.

The young woman soon had them settled backstage where they’d actually be comfortable, Ruby playing with a baby doll at their feet. The Mötley bassist was quick to gently brush her hair back, his wife looking a bit perturbed as he studied her face with a critical eye. It was only after assuring himself that she was Healing up nicely that he let go of her chin and sat back, but she knew what was coming.

“Have ya heard anything back from the cops in Charlotte?” he asked curiously.

“Bitch got arrested and charged with assault-and-battery,” Aerin answered, nodding. “I ain’t looking forward to having to go back out there to give my formal statement, though.”

“Wait, what’re ya talking about?” Courtney asked, now looking confused.

“Long story short, I was abused by my mother in various ways till I got sick of it and just left a lil over two Years ago,” the young woman answered. “She showed up at the Charlotte show a couple weeks ago, and saying we got into it’s a bit of an understatement.”

“I wouldn’t have minded getting a blow of my own in,” Rob grumbled from behind her since she was sitting between his legs again. “Too bad I couldn’t have gotten across the room quick enough, whether I was raised to hit a woman or not.”

“Ouch,” the older woman winced.

“Ouch’s an understatement, considering I’d to keep myself doped up on my Percocet for two Days after that,” she dead-panned.

Looking up at Nikki, her boyfriend was quick to fill in a few blanks. “Rheumatoid arthritis, before ya ask, man,” he said.

 _“Ahhhh,_ so that’s why ya said she’d more than one reason for wanting a narcotic that Night,” the Mötley bassist mused, nodding his Understanding.

“Yeah, ’cuz between giving me a migraine as soon as she smacked me and making my left hip act up from the blow throwing me off-balance, I knew not even prescription Aleve’d work,” Aerin agreed.

“I should hope ya take it sparingly, if you’re as much like me as Bobby says ya are,” he told her.

Nodding again, she admitted that it was actually his first book– _The Heroin Diaries_ –that kept her from going down that Dark road like he’d once done. Despite everything her mother’d done growing up, quite literally throwing her original-edition copy of that book into her lap was prolly the best damn thing she’d ever done for her. She’d been on the verge of making the stupidest decision of her Life–to even _try_ pot–when she’d done that, and reading it’d scared her away from making that choice before it was too late. That’d been the thing to make her realize she’d an addictive personality, and what made her make a conscious decision about even taking a shot, let alone a dose of a painkiller.

Rob’s brows rose in surprise, considering that he hadn’t known that about his girlfriend before now, but he didn’t actually say anything. He remembered her saying that there’d been quite a few alcoholics and drug addicts in her family, so no doubt that played a role, too. But while he’d known she was also a Mötley Crüe fan, he hadn’t realized she liked their bassist’s solo work, both musical and paper-and-ink.

Laughing, the young woman said that she only knew about Sixx:A.M. ’cuz that aforementioned mother’d told her who they were when their hit single, _Life is Beautiful,_ came on the radio one Time when she was about fifteen. She hadn’t believed her at first when she’d said it was Nikki’s band, but he _didn’t_ front it any more than he’d ever fronted Mötley. Only after doing some serious research on the latter band for her senior paper in high school did she find proof to back up that claim.

“Ya _really_ wrote your senior paper on us?” Nikki laughed.

“Well, not necessarily y’all, _per sé,”_ she elaborated. “The main topic was drugs and booze, and their effects on bands of the eighties. Due to needing a credible sourceta cite, I used excerpts from _THD_ –like the account of what happened in December of ’87–which’s how y’all became my Prime example of those effects.”

 _“Ahhhh,_ I gotcha.” The Mötley bassist nodded as his daughter crawled into his lap, quietly demanding his attention.

“Had I known even half as much about Poison back then, they’d have no doubt been another Prime example,” Aerin admitted. “But while I liked their Music, I can’t really say I knew bub-kiss about any of ’em beyond Bret–and I didn’t really know that much about _him_ beyond his diabetes.”

“But that’s one of the many reasons I love ya, sweetheart,” Rob chuckled. “You’re so inquisitive that if something doesn’t make sense, ya either take it with a grain of Salt and let it go or do some serious digging.”

“So, you’re actually together?” This was asked by the older woman, who wore a smile, even as she looked curious.

“That, we are,” he answered, unable to help a grin.

“I used to think Nikki was nuts for being with ya, but if _he_ is, Rob must be just as nuts,” the younger woman laughed. “There’s about as big an age difference between he and I as there is between you and Nikki.”

“Really?” Nikki looked as curious and surprised as his own wife.

“We’re all of three weeks shy of being thirty Years apart,” the Silver Fox laughed. “But she acts like we’re the same age, whether ya say we’re both in our twenties or fifties.”

“Age ain’t nothin’ but a number assigned by humanity, by the Gods!” Aerin retorted. “You’re living proof of that, if ya ask me, what with the way ya act like you’re my age aside from when your knee getsta acting up.”

He didn’t even try to hide his grin as the other couple laughed, even though his Mötley equivalent was sympathetic to his pain since he knew it all too well.

“All right, just ’cuz I’m so curious–what madeja wanna learn how to play those Poison songs you’ve been getting onstage with them for?” the Mötley bassist asked curiously as he Changed their topic.

The young woman admitted that–at the Time she’d started learning those bass riffs–she hadn’t been nearly as good at playing as she was now. Even though she still couldn’t run scales on anything but flute and picc for shit, she’d gotten a lot better at bass and even a few guitar riffs than she’d been before. Granted, a lotta that was in part to Rob helping her, whether by teaching her riffs he’d written Ages ago or figuring out riffs she wanted to learn, himself before helping her with them.

Said Silver Fox merely shrugged as his equivalent turned a surprised look on him, saying that he didn’t really mind learning songs he didn’t necessarily like, if it helped her. He might not know every lil detail of her Past, but he knew enough that he just wanted to see her happy when it was all said and done. If doing something he didn’t necessarily like saw that End become a Reality, he was all for it since it was better than some outcomes.

Courtney soon ask the question that’d been on even the rest of Poison’s mind, if only ’cuz she was too curious _not_ to–did they ever plan on going any further than dating? Aerin didn’t miss a beat in answering, telling her that as far as she was concerned, there wasn’t really a need to. She lived her Life by the adage _Don’t fix what ain’t broken,_ and she didn’t consider their relationship even cracked, let alone broken. If her boyfriend ever proposed, he’d have to make sure he was as fan-fuckin’-tabulous as she thought he was, or she’d just as soon make him eat any ring he presented her with.

“Hell, I’d make him eat it, even if I said _yes,_ if it’s White Diamonds in it,” she laughed.

“Why? Diamonds’re gorgeous,” Nikki told her.

“I, personally think they’re cold as Ice and tasteless,” the young woman answered. “I’d rather have something with personality, like Amethyst–or devoid of all Color, like Obsidian.”

Rob couldn’t help filing that away, just in case he ever decided to buy her any jewelry in the Future. “Well, for the moment, I can safely say that no proposal’s gonna happen, even if that’s whatcha were aiming for.”

His Mötley equivalent cocked a brow at him.

“Man, I’m not too sure _how_ ya managed to ever propose, let alone get married again after the _first_ attempt didn’t work out,” he chuckled. “While it might Change as Time wears on, I just don’t think I’ve it in me to take _that_ leap of Faith again.”

“Fine by me, love–I’d rather not get married, if I can help it,” Aerin admitted. “Easier and cheaper to just shack up.”

Even the older woman couldn’t help but laugh and admit that she’d a point there.

“Besides, I don’t exactly wanna be tied down like that–I’m a lil _too_ free-Spirited,” she said. “Handfasting’s good enough for me, if we ever go beyond dating.”

“Handfasting–what’s that?” Nikki asked, his brow furrowed.

“Pagan marriage that’s Celtic in origin,” the young woman answered. “It’s more or less like the Spiritual marriages that Mormons do when they take a subsequent wife after the first.”

“Just from a different religious viewpoint,” he mused, a thoughtful look on his face.

“I think all _I’m_ glad to know’s that we’re pretty much on the same page, even if it’s for different reasons,” Rob chuckled, resting his chin on her shoulder.

Laughing as she turned enough to kiss his cheek, Aerin told him that she wouldn’t have hidden that kinda aim from him for so long, if she’d it in the first place. But considering that she wanted him for so much more than anything hidden in his britches, having that kinda aim wouldn’t have jived with those Wishes. She’d have been marrying him for money at best, were that her aim–and she’d have just as soon starved as done something so crass. That, or she’d have demanded such a thing from Ash long before they coulda ever met, not to mention before she could introduce said younger bassist to the Love of his own Life.

Nikki looked curious when she said that, but also like he didn’t wanna ask outta Respect for their privacy, which earned him a smile. All she’d say was that she’d met one of her best friends in a very unlikely way, and that when she’d introduced him to her _other_ best friend, they’d wound up hitting it off as much as she and Rob had. That’d broken a damn near Endless cycle of being a _love-’em-and-leave-’em_ type for him, not to mention taught both of them to open up and trust another.

It wasn’t much longer before her Silver Fox was being dragged off for Sound check by his manager, who was surprised when she refused to go with them for once. Grinning, the young woman told him that she’d already done her part early ’cuz she’d woken up too soon for her liking and been bored. Since she hadn’t wanted to wake the others up too early, but her pickin’ fingers’d been itchy, doing that’d kinda, sorta killed two Birds with one Stone. Bert shrugged since he’d already figured out she wasn’t one to lie about that kinda thing, giving her man just enough Time to steal a kiss before he dragged him off. Left with some free Time on her hands, she sat back to simply enjoy getting to watch, Nikki and Courtney choosing to stick with her for now.


	22. Twenty-One

_September, 2021_

_Inglewood, California_

The _Stadium Tour_ rolled into its final stop at the SoFi Stadium about halfway between Los Angeles and Long Beach, and the four bands on its roster couldn’t have been happier. As much as they all–including Aerin–loved getting to criss-cross the country like lines on an Etch-a-Sketch and play their hearts out for hundreds of thousands of people, they were all ready for at least a break. Some of them were closer to wanting to wring each others’ necks than not while others’d grown closer than they’d ever been, or Dreamt that they would.

After their chat in San Francisco–which’d continued after the show late that Night and been concluded with the young woman making it quite clear she wasn’t interested in anyone but Rob–Nikki’d taken to looking after her more often than he didn’t. One couldn’t say they’d connected on a level that’d suggest an affair or anything, but they certainly functioned on a wavelength no one else did with either of them. If any kinda label truly had to be put on it, one’d have to say it was more of a father-daughter kinda relationship than not. More than a few arguments–both playful and not so much–had Ended with him giving her a reprimanding like he’d give one of his kids and her flipping him off like she _was_ one of those kids.

But none of them were as glad that the tour was coming to an End as the Silver Fox and his girlfriend, and not for a reason anyone woulda expected when the tour first kicked off. Aerin’d noticed as they got ready to leave their stop at the T-Mobile Park in Seattle that her boyfriend wasn’t acting quite right, but confronting him about it’d resulted in their first-ever fight as a couple. Quick to realize she wasn’t gonna get the stubborn bastard she loved to open up, she’d just chucked his pillow at him and stormed off. Neither he, nor his band had found out till the next Morn that she’d boarded Mötley’s bus when said band made a detour in Las Vegas so they could drop her off at their solo show at the Pearl Concert Theater. Granted, that’d resulted in yet another fight, after which she’d promptly ignored her boyfriend and his band till showtime.

However, it was after that show that the young woman _really_ noticed that her boyfriend wasn’t doing so hot, and he couldn’t deny it now. Rob was pale and sweaty, but she wouldn’t quite describe his appearance as clammy, like he’d just spent the Morn puking his guts up. No, this was more like he was in some sorta pain that he refused to tell anyone about, no matter how many Times he was asked if he was okay. And it appeared that the lingering heat of the Mojave Desert–of which, Las Vegas was the largest City–was only worsening his condition.

“I dunno what the fuck’s wrong with him,” Aerin grumbled as she sat backstage with Rikki and Nikki after they’d all finished their final Sound check.

“Yeah, he hasn’t been looking so good since we left Seattle,” Poison’s drummer agreed with a frown.

“Any ideas what could be wrong with him?” his slightly older equivalent asked, his own brows furrowed.

“He won’t answer anyone when we ask,” the young woman sighed, dragging her fingers through her hair. “Doesn’t matter whether we try to play nice, or if we all but threaten to tie him down and give him a round of Chinese Water torture–he’s living up to the Secretive bent of a Scorpio.”

“Could be that he’s just dehydrated,” Nikki said. “I mean, what with all the sweating we do onstage, especially in a place as hot as Vegas this Time of Year.”

“I’ve thought about that, even though I’ve been making all of them guzzle Water like it was going outta style,” she told him.

“It’s more like he’s in some serious pain, but doesn’t wanna complain,” Rikki agreed.

This made the other man with them frown even harder than he already was. “That’s definitely not good, so why is he being so stubborn…?”

“I Wish I’d an answer, if only for myself,” Aerin said.

The drummer made to say something else, but got cut off by a sudden scream, and she recognized the voice all too well.

_“ROB!”_

In the bathroom of his dressing room, the Silver Fox bit back another scream as he slammed his fist into the wall next to him. Somehow, he doubted that anyone’d heard him, and he was Cursing having left his phone in his back pocket when he’d first sat down to attempt taking a shit again. He didn’t know what the hell was wrong with him, but whatever it was, he already knew it wasn’t good ’cuz of the amount of pain he was in. Not even being constipated was supposed to feel like this–if anything, it was supposed to bring a vast amount of relief once he was finally able to go.

Rob somehow managed to bite back another scream as he heard the door to his dressing room fly open, if only ’cuz he didn’t know who it was. He didn’t particularly want anyone seeing him like this, not even his girlfriend, so maybe it was a good thing he couldn’t get to his phone to call for help. Then again, that might not be such a good thing since he didn’t know what was wrong and whether it was gonna kill him or not.

Moments later, he heard the Sound of said girlfriend’s shoes pattering across the floor, her footsteps pausing at the End stall furthest from him. Considering the way she was quick to keep moving till she got to the one he was all but hiding in before he saw her drop to her knees, he knew she was looking for the telltale sign of his feet at the least. Still, he refused to make a Sound, even as she crawled under the door and popped upright in front of him so he could see the worry on her face.

“Rob, love–what’s wrong?” she asked, bracing a hand on his bare knee to push herself up.

The scream he’d been biting back ripped outta his throat, startling her as he slammed his fist into the wall again when her gentle movement shifted his leg in a way that increased his current agony.

“Jesus Christ!” The startled voice that exploded from outside the stall belonged to his drummer.

“Guys, I hope both of y’all can fit in even a handicap stall!” Aerin said, moving to unlock the door. “I’m not sure he can do anything but scream right now, judging by the look on his face.”

“We can damn well try.” That second voice surprised him, considering it belonged to Nikki.

The young woman didn’t bother to answer before opening the stall door, thankful that it opened outward since that’d make getting him outta here easier.

“Bobby, look at me,” Rikki told him. There was Fear in his voice, but it sounded like he was doing a pretty good job of biting it back.

The Silver Fox managed to look up, but couldn’t bite back a sob as he gently grabbed his chin.

“We gotta getcha outta here,” he told him. “Butcha gotta work with us, all right?”

“H-Hurts,” Rob managed to force out.

“Judging by those screams, man, I’d say that’s an understatement,” his slightly older equivalent said. “On a count of three…”

“Ready when you are, Nik,” the drummer said, grabbing him under one arm.

“One…two…” he started.

Both men hauled him up as gently as they could manage, another scream ripping outta him as they got him up to his feet.

“Um, I’m pretty sure that’s _not_ normal,” Rikki said, his eyes widening in shock.

“Christ on a crutch,” Nikki breathed, turning to look at the young woman. “Go grab the medics and tell them to get in here yesterday!”

More than a lil freaked-out, Aerin nodded and took off running at her top speed, which was actually faster than most’d think she could move. The remaining, healthy pair of men’d to work slowly and with one another to shuffle Rob outta the stall, every movement more agonizing than the last. His face was Beet-red from a combination of how hot this place was and his pain, but mostly the latter and trying to bite back his screams.

It wasn’t more than a couple minutes before the young woman Returned with the medics, who hauled a stretcher between them. Security guards were keeping even the other bands from coming down the hall, never mind into his dressing room, since this was an incredibly personal situation. None of them saw any reason to humiliate him worse than he already was, especially since that humiliation was about to grow tenfold. And as if that wasn’t enough, that meant that at least Poison’s tour was Ending a Night early, if all four bands didn’t decide to cancel tonight’s show altogether.

Once they were where they could work, Nikki told the EMTs they may as well not even lower the stretcher like they normally would. As much pain as he was obviously in, they weren’t likely to get the Silver Fox down that low under his own power–with or without help–without him falling. He said that he wasn’t quite sure _what_ was wrong with him, but he knew for a damn fact that whatever it was _wasn’t_ normal. The fact that neither man currently holding him up’d tried to pull so much as his boxers up also spoke volumesta them.

“Oh, Jesus fuck,” the taller EMT breathed once they got him on the stretcher face-down.

“Do we even wanna know?” Rikki asked, worried outta his mind about his friend.

“I’ve only seen one case of this before, and it’s a good thing ya sent that young lady to get us,” he said as he looked up at them.

“So, what the hell’re we looking at?” Nikki asked. “’Cuz whatever’s wrong with him, it isn’t normal and it’s–well, it’s fuckin’ gross.”

“Rectal prolapse,” the man answered matter-of-factly. “Essentially, he just took the phrase _shit your guts out_ to a whole new level, boys.”

Both men paled considerably, the slightly older bassist moving quickly to catch Aerin when she looked like she was gonna go down.

“Deep breaths, girl,” he said, hauling her back against his chest as the shorter EMT quickly started an IV, then moved to draw up something with a syringe.

“He’s in good hands, miss,” he assured her, even as he stabbed that syringe into the IV he’d started.

Within seconds, Rob’s soft sobs fell Silent and he practically went limp against the stretcher.

“What’dja give him!?” she shrieked, now even more worried, considering the way his eyes glazed over and rolled back in his head for a few moments before rolling back down.

“Fentanyl,” he answered. “Only the one dose, though, as addictive as this stuff is.”

“Trust us–not much else’s gonna help him, as far as the pain goes,” his taller partner told them. “We’ve seen people damn near OD’d by even a medical professional, if they try to give a rectal prolapse patient anything weaker.”

They were as gentle as they possibly could be about spreading a sheet over him, particularly from the waist down, before they got him strapped down. Rob didn’t seem to notice a bit, even when they unlocked the wheels of the stretcher and started to move it toward the dressing room door. At least his vitals were stable, as told by the monitor they’d put him on before getting him settled in a way that wouldn’t aggravate his condition any more than necessary.

Rikki looked up at the slightly older bassist and told him to go with her, ’cuz he could already tell that nothing was keeping her from going with her man. He was quick to give him Zach’s and Zoe’s numbers, unsure of which one he’d be able to reach right now since they were at home in Florida. Whether they were actually _home,_ home or at work depended on their schedule, and that was what he was most unsure of.

Nodding his agreement, Nikki picked the young woman up bridal-style since he could move faster and keep up with the EMTs better. Aerin wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him like a child, very nearly losing her shit when said EMTs tried to stop them from riding to the hospital in the ambulance with them. Only saying that she was the Silver Fox’s girlfriend and that she’d rip _their_ guts out their navels and back up through their asses convinced them that she wasn’t a woman to be messed with right now. Maybe making such threats wasn’t her best bet right now, but she didn’t really care–she was too worried about her now-stoned boyfriend to worry about what a pair of EMTs thought.

Said boyfriend moaned softly, his face scrunching slightly in pain when they got the stretcher locked into the back, but he otherwise didn’t react. That was as much of a reaction as they got outta him the entire ride to UCLA Medical Center, too, and that was no doubt due to the high-powered painkiller he’d been given. If not for that, he’d have no doubt been screaming bloody murder just from breathing, let alone when they’d hit a pothole or other bump in the road. And if not for knowing he was better off stoned outta his gourd right now, she’d have been worried even more by his lack of reaction.

* * *

An hour after arriving at the ER, Aerin was jittery as hell as she waited in the surgical waiting area with Rikki and Nikki at her side. The latter’d finally managed to get in touch with Zach, who’d made it quite clear to the medical staff that the young woman wasta be given temporary Power of Attorney over his dad in his stead while he was working on getting out to California. If she wasn’t clear-headed enough or otherwise couldn’t handle it, that duty wasta fall on the drummer since he made no bones about not trusting his dad’s equivalent enough to give _him_ such Power.

The rest of the bands’d decided to cancel their shows that Night, none of them really in a mindset to be able to play for shit. And even if they _had_ been in the proper mindset, two of the bands were missing at least one of their members and _couldn’t_ go on. Given that was the case, they’d decided that if even one band couldn’t, none of them would as they awaited news on Rob’s condition. Whether it was odd they were banding together to show solidarity like this or not, the trio at the hospital were glad to hear it.

All that’d been passed on–to Zach and the rest of the bands alike–was that attemptsta correct his issue in the ER’d been unsuccessful, and he’d been deemed in need of surgery. His son actually knew what was wrong with him, as per the attending’s official diagnosis, and that was only so he could make proper calls as his Power of Attorney till he’d handed that torch off to his surrogate uncle. None of them felt the need to share that part with anyone but Bret and CC, who’d agreed to keep their mouths shut on the grounds of emasculation, if they didn’t. Still, they were all desperate for some sorta news, and it was all the young woman could do to remind herself of the adage _no news is good news,_ let alone remind the others of that.

“Deep breaths, hon,” Nikki said, going for a Soothing tone as he rubbed her back. “He’s in the best hands right now.”

The young woman sitting between him and the lone blonde merely whimpered before collapsing and burying her face in his chest.

“What was that?” he asked, frowning since he hadn’t quite caught whatever she’d said.

“It sounded like… _I can’t lose another one?”_ Rikki’s brows furrowed as he repeated what he _thought_ he’d heard. “Whaddaya mean, ya can’t lose another one?”

She couldn’t answer him as she started sobbing into the slightly older bassist’s chest, and that was when they realized she was shaking like a leaf.

“I’ma give Ash a call and see if _he_ knows what she’s talking about,” the drummer sighed. “He knows her better than anyone besides Bobby.”

“Good idea,” he said, wincing as she sobbed harder. “Wait a sec–didja notice that, or have I lost more of my mind than I thought?”

“Whaddaya mean?” Rikki asked, pausing in pulling up the youngest bassist’s contact from his friend’s phone.

“I think she mighta just given us a clue without meaning to,” Nikki told him. “I swear, she sobbed harder w-hen ya said _Bobby.”_

The drummer was surprised when his point was proven not even a second later. “Yeah, I’m definitely calling Ash, ’cuz I dunno why she’d react like that.”

It took a few tries before he managed to get the youngest bassist to answer, and he wasn’t surprised when he thought he was the Silver Fox at first. After all, he was using his friend’s phone to call him instead of his own, so he’d expected such a mistake to occur. Once he’d cleared up that bit of confusion, he was quick to fill him in, not surprised by the horrified gasp that rang out right in his ear.

 _“How’s Aerin holding up?”_ he asked as he put him on speaker.

“Not very well, kid,” Nikki answered. “I’m not sure that even an industrial dryer’s gonna save my shirt from all these tears by the Time we get an update.”

 _“Somehow, I’m not surprised she’s losing her shit,”_ the youngest bassist sighed.

“Well, I calledja ’cuz we’ve a question for ya,” the drummer told him.

 _“Can’t guarantee I’ll have an answer, but go ahead and shoot,”_ Ash responded.

“Do you’ve _any_ idea why she’d sob even harder every Time she hears the name _Bobby?”_ he asked, wincing as she did just that for the third Time.

 _“Believe it or not, I don’t,”_ he told him, wincing just as hard as he heard that harder sob. _“Aerin, sis_ – _listen to me.”_

Aerin didn’t seem to hear him at first, but a couple more attempts finally caught her attention.

 _“Ya gotta tell us why hearing his stage name’s making ya freak, sis,”_ he said, a pleading tone to his voice.

“D-Daddy,” the young woman whimpered before burying her face again.

Both of the men at her sides looked confused, but something suddenly clicked for Ash that made him let out a sharp gasp. He made it clear that he wasn’t entirely sure since she’d never really told him much about her family, but he was pretty sure she was freakin’ out so bad ’cuz she was being reminded of her grampa’s Death. None of them realized that the Silver Fox was the only one who knew her grampa’s name–or at least, the nickname she’d always called him by–and that was why she freaked every Time she heard his stage name. If any of them’d known that, they’d have referred to him by his preferred nickname outside anything to do with his band.

 _“That’s the only thing I can think of, guys,”_ Ash sighed. _“She told me that she usually calls her pappaw_ Daddy _in Honor of how he pretty much_ was _her daddy growing up, now that he’s not with us anymore.”_

“I wonder how that ties back to Bobby, though?” the slightly older bassist wondered aloud, his hand pressed over the ear that wasn’t against his chest to muffle what she heard.

 _“I honestly dunno, and I’m really Wishing I did,”_ he told them. _“If anything, so y’all’d quit making whatever mistake you’re making that’s causing her to flip out even worse.”_

“Hey, calling ya was _still_ worth a shot,” Rikki chuckled. “Maybe we’ll get her to Calm down enough that she can tell us, herself.”

 _“Maybe, but I doubt it,”_ the younger bassist warned them. _“I’ve never seen or heard her flip out like this, so I’m not too sure_ anything _but seeing her man alive’s gonna Calm her down.”_

“Well, hopefully this nurse that just appeared is gonna tell us something,” Nikki said.

“Friends and family of Robert Kuykendall?” the nurse he’d spotted called out.

“That’s us,” the drummer responded, hiding his phone so she wouldn’t realize Ash was still listening in. “I’m his temporary Power of Attorney since his son’s on his way from Florida.”

Nodding, the woman sat down across from them, the mask she’d been wearing pulled down under her chin to reveal her face. Aerin managed to sit up and wipe away a few errant tears as she explained what all’d happened ever since the Silver Fox was taken into surgery. Since their attempts at pushing his rectum back in down in the ER’d been unsuccessful and there was so much exposed tissue, they’d opted for an open-abdominal surgery.

According to her, they’d been able to pull his rectum back up to where it belonged and suture it back to his pelvic wall successfully. He was currently being brought down to recovery, where he’d be kept admitted for at least a couple Days as he started his recovery process. Considering what’d landed him here, he wouldn’t be discharged till he proved to be able to take a shit without any complications, which was understandable.

The pair of musicians couldn’t help the relieved sighs they let out, Ash’s muffled both by the drummer’s phone being hidden and the young woman’s relieved sob. Once she’d Calmed down enough for them to hear, the nurse said that the trio could go back to visit Rob for a few minutes, but only two’d be allowed to stay till any of his family showed up. Nikki said that he’d go back for a few minutes, then head back to update the rest of the tour roster since Aerin was his girlfriend and the drummer was a far closer friend to him than he was. That was an agreeable enough arrangement, and the nurse said she was gonna go see if he was settled yet, then come back to get them when he was.

Only once the nurse was gone did Rikki pull his phone back outta his pocket, checking to make sure the youngest bassist was still there before asking if he’d heard. He responded by saying that not only had _he_ heard everything that’d been said, but so had Aidan, and that they’d be out to So Cal to visit him soon. Since he seemed to be in relatively stable condition and the young woman was Calmer, they weren’t gonna rush overmuch unless they got another call that said they needed to. Agreeing to that, he was quick to End the call, knowing that nurse could Return to get them at any moment and wanting to be ready when she did.


	23. Twenty-Two

In the recovery room he’d been moved to, Rob was in and outta consciousness as the nurses worked to get him settled. At the moment, he wasn’t feeling a damn thing in terms of pain–despite having a fresh incision in his lower belly–which coulda been as much from the painkiller as the anesthesia. Then again, that was a good thing since they wanted him to get some rest, not be feeling any pain from his surgery for a while.

With his head lolled onto his chest, his glasses and the remains of the clothes he’d been wearing earlier left in a plastic bag on the floor next to his bed, he dozed off yet again. He was completely unaware of the nurses leaving, one of them heading back out to the waiting room for a couple minutes. Course, he didn’t remember being brought to the hospital in the first place, let alone that anyone but the EMTs’d been in the ambulance with him. Therefore, he couldn’t have possibly known that he was about to get his first visitors, and that they were worried beyond comprehension.

Feeling flesh against his palm as someone grabbed his hand startled him a bit, making him let out a soft gasp and jump slightly. His vision was blurry as he looked up, most likely due to currently lacking his glasses, but he was still able to make out a head of Dark hair. The scent that wafted around the person was all too familiar, even to his drugged and sleepy brain, and he smiled weakly as the person’s identity registered. Naturally, that made him let out a soft, content hum as he Returned the squeeze his hand was currently being given.

_“Mmm, la mia…piccola…Musica…Strega,”_ the Silver Fox managed to get out.

“Oh, _il mio dagli occhi marroni, d’Argento Volpe,”_ Aerin murmured, moving a bit closer to him.

He couldn’t help a soft sigh as he felt her lips press against his forehead as if he were a child, where they lingered for a few moments.

“How’re ya feeling, man?”

Turning his head slightly after the sensation of those lips disappeared, he made out whom he _thought_ was either Vince or one of his own band mates. “Tired,” he said. “Mighta gotten hit by a bus, mighta jumped off a Cliff–dunno, but at least I ain’t hurting right now.”

“No doubt ’cuz of what they’ve gotcha on for pain,” the blonde chuckled, grabbing his other hand.

“I’m just glad to see you’re at least talking, even if ya _are_ slurring right now,” a third voice said with a chuckle of its own. He couldn’t make out _who_ it belonged to, but it was familiar all the same.

“Just wanna sleep,” the Silver Fox murmured, his jaw opening like a Snake’s as he let out a yawn moments later.

“All right, all right,” that third voice chuckled. “Get some rest, man–I’ma go update the others, and we’ll come back to visit when you’re a lil more coherent.”

_“Otays_ –bye-bye,” he said, managing to get his hand back from the blonde enough to flap it a couple Times in something that mighta resembled a wave.

“Bye-bye, man,” was the last thing the person chuckled before they turned and headed out, leaving him with whoever was settled on either side of him.

Rob didn’t really pay that much attention to whatever they were saying to each other as his head lolled onto his chest again. He didn’t know what he’d been given that was making him feel so tired, but he knew one thing–he wanted to get some sleep while he could. As bad as his stomach’d been killing him for the past few Days, he hadn’t gotten very much sleep, so he’d have been tired without being drugged. Now that his stomach _wasn’t_ killing him for the first Time in Days, it was the optimal Time to give in to his body’s demand for rest.

The last thing he heard as his eyes rolled back in his head was a soft, feminine voice singing in a foreign language, which brought a small smile to his face. His girlfriend knew what song he liked as a lullabye whenever he needed one, and he was just glad that she was staying by his side. Once he got outta wherever he was and could keep his eyes open long enough, he’d some serious making up to do to her.

* * *

“Damn, knocked him right out, didn’t it–or was that the drugs?”

Unable to help a slight smile as she watched her boyfriend’s eyes roll back in their sockets and flutter shut, Aerin didn’t let go of his hand as she looked up at Rikki. He was settled on his friend’s other side and gently holding his other hand, no doubt to Comfort and Soothe him further into sleep. Whether he needed to sleep off the drugs or not, he needed to get some rest since she knew the body did the majority of its Healing and growing while a being was asleep.

“Well, considering the translation of those lyrics I once found, I’m not surprised,” she chuckled softly. “Besides, it’s supposed to be soft and slow like that.”

“What was it, if ya don’t mind my asking?” The drummer cocked a brow curiously. “’Cuz all I know’s that it definitely _wasn’t_ in English.”

_“Taikatalvi_ by Nightwish,” Aerin answered. “It translatesta either _Enchanted Winter_ or _Winter Magick,_ but I’m pretty sure it’s the first one.”

“I think I’ve heard a few tunes by Nightwish,” he said thoughtfully.

“They’re a lot like Evanescence, if you’re into _them,”_ the young woman said. “Symphonic Metal, a lotta feminine vocals that can reach some insanely high pitches… Really, the only differences is that they do more tunes that’re either duets or sung entirely by their bassist, and they’ve Changed leading ladies a couple Times.”

“That’s when ya don’t count that they’re apparently _not_ American,” Rikki laughed, careful to keep his voice down.

“’Cuz they’re actually Finnish,” she told him with a grin. “But kinda like that Italian Metal band I gotcha to listening to, Lacuna Coil, ya can’t really tell for the most part that English ain’t their first language–not when they’re singing, that is.”

Nodding his Understanding, the drummer couldn’t help wondering what the lyrics she’d just sang to his friend translated to. He certainly wasn’t expecting her to read them after looking them up again, only to realize that they basically painted a mental picture of a Winter Wonderland. Aerin chuckled as she locked her phone again, telling him that the other one she’d in mind was prolly a lil better suited to Summertime, but she’d never been able to get it quite right. It was done in an operatic style that made it hard to get the pronunciations right, so while she’d listen to it and play the MP3 file she had of it for Rob, she wouldn’t actually sing it.

With her phone stowed back in her pocket, he couldn’t help his Curiosity growing, now that she was obviously a lot Calmer and reassured. Being able to see her man and that he was gonna be okay, even if it took a while, had dried her tears so that there were just tracks from them on her cheeks. That was easy enough to rectify the next Time she washed her face, so he decided not to worry about it for the moment.

“All right, I gotta ask, now that you’re Calm enough to actually talk,” Rikki said, deciding to take his chance while it was available.

The young woman looked up at him, showing that he’d her full attention.

“What on Earth about Bobby’s stage name kept making ya freak out earlier?” he asked, trying to be gentle about how he asked.

Aerin took a deep breath that she let out in a heavy sigh, her grip tightening on her boyfriend’s hand. “I knew this was gonna happen sooner or later,” she murmured as he Returned that tighter squeeze in his sleep, as if he was listening subconsciously.

Confused, the drummer just cocked a brow at her as he waited.

“My pappaw–his name was also Robert,” she sighed. “But everyone–and I do mean _everyone,_ even us grandkids–always called him _Bob.”_

Rikki’s aqua eyes widened in surprise, but he still didn’t say a word since he could tell this was hard for her.

“My pappaw was like my daddy growing up–I just didn’t realize exactly how much so till _after_ he died two Days after my twenty-first birthday,” the young woman continued.

“Aw, hon–I can’t even put into words how sorry I am to hear that,” he said, reaching out to grab her free hand with his own. He was careful to make sure their hands weren’t resting on his friend’s crotch as he grabbed hers in a tight, Comforting grip.

“I guess ya could say I’d a couple flashbacksta shit I saw as a kid every Time I heard _Bobby_ since it was too similar to what I always called Daddy as a kid,” Aerin admitted.

The drummer listened as she recalled something that’d happened when she was still in elementary school, around the age of ten or so. He didn’t miss the haunted look to her eyes as she said that she’d watched her pappaw start choking on a bite of scrambled Eggs before he’d gotten up to attempt stumbling into his bedroom. Apparently, he’d momentarily passed out and hit his knees, his face slamming into the corner between his bedroom door and the wall next to it. She’d hauled ass out to the yard in horrified Terror, and it’d taken her mammaw a while to reassure her enough to get her to come back inside.

Another thing the young woman’d never told even her boyfriend that they’d in common was the neck injury said Silver Fox’d sustained decades ago. From what she recalled, her pappaw’d sustained his far differently than a vehicular or onstage accident, but the resulting carnage was pretty similar. Both’d been forced to undergo a diskectomy and spinal fusion to replace a couple of the discs in their neck and hold them in position.

Her pappaw–Bob, as she’d called him–had lived the rest of his Life in pain, even though he’d heard such a surgery was generally supposed to _relieve_ pain. She said that instead of having pain shooting down his left arm from the nerve that led to it being pinched, though, it’d been his neck to hurt more often than not. But much like herself, he took the painkiller he’d been prescribed for it long-term sparingly, mostly ’cuz he didn’t like the effects of it when he was on it.

“Sounds like he was a lot like Rob, then,” Rikki chuckled, taking care _not_ to use his friend’s stage name for once since he could tell it’d be really upsetting to her right now.

“A lot more than I can put into words,” the young woman agreed, a fond smile crossing her lips. “My mother always said that girls tend to pick their partners so that they’re similar to their fathers, boys picking partners that’re similar to their mothers, but I never really believed her–till I met Rob.”

He simply cocked a brow, wondering what she meant and not expecting her to pull out her phone.

“It’s not just in personality, or their past neck injuries,” Aerin admitted as she unlocked said phone. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d almost swear they were father and son.”

“Now, wouldn’t _that_ just be freaky?” the drummer laughed. “Ya fall in Love with a guy, only to find out you’re in Love and sleeping with your uncle.”

“Yeah, Rob and I agreed that’d be pretty gross when I showed him these pictures the Day after we met,” she chuckled, passing him her phone.

Rikki took it and glanced down at the screen, his jaw dropping as the image he saw jolted a few different memories of his friend when he was younger.

“I’m pretty sure Daddy was around thirty in that picture,” the young woman told him. “Judging by how old my mom and uncle looked in the picture I cropped that from, I doubt he was much more than a Year or two older, if I’m off at all.”

“Damn, I’d swear I was looking at a picture of Rob around the _Flesh and Blood_ era, if I didn’t know any better,” he said.

Grinning almost deviously, she pulled up the same picture of said boyfriend she’d compared it to almost two Years ago and handed it back to him. Taking a glance at this one, the drummer could see the eerie similarities even better, and he could see what she meant about swearing they coulda been father and son, if she hadn’t known any better. If their personalities were also as similar as she swore they were, it only made sense for her to gravitate toward another man as similar as the pappaw she’d obviously loved so dearly.

Taking her phone back from him, Aerin admitted that hearing a name her pappaw’d been called only sparingly, but was too similar to what she’d called him as a kid had sparked a few flashbacks. Mostly to that aforementioned story of when she’d seen him choke, but also to a Time not long before his Death that’d scared her almost senseless. Apparently, the combination of drugs he was on for various Health issues’d made his blood pressure bottom out or something, and he’d passed out in almost the exact same part of the house. Unlike his fall when she was a kid, though, it’d been _her_ to help him back up by kneeling in front of him and letting him push down on her shoulders so he could use her own body for balance as he did.

Rikki couldn’t help a wince as she admitted that she’d all but been the man’s live-in caretaker for the last few Years of his Life, the last Year or two especially. Having to watch him go steadily downhill and know that he wasn’t ever gonna get any better hadn’t been easy for her–no easier than ultimately losing him. But while that’d been hard for her, she kept reminding herself that at least he wasn’t in pain and suffering anymore.

As they watched the Silver Fox sleep off the anesthesia he’d been given for his surgery, a plan started forming in his head. Just so he’d be closer to the surgeon who’d split him open this Time, he was thinking it’d be better for him to stay with him or one of the other blondes for at least the first couple weeks. Not only that, but it’d allow them to keep an eye on even this young woman to make sure she didn’t stress _herself_ out too much by trying to take care of him. He’d have to run that idea past Bret and CC later, but for now, he wasn’t leaving their sides at least till his friend woke up again and was more coherent.


	24. Twenty-Three

Following Zach’s arrival about three hours after Rob’d gotten outta surgery, Rikki went to meet up with the rest of his band for dinner. They were all exhausted after the tour, whether it’d come to an abrupt End right before their final show or not, but none more so than he was. He wasn’t just physically exhausted from the grueling rigors, though–he was _mentally_ exhausted on top of it from the Day he’d been through. All he really wanted wasta go home, hug his kids and _fiancé,_ and remind himself that it coulda been _him_ laid up at UCLA instead before he got some rest.

At a local Chinese restaurant they frequented when they were home–both on solo trips _and_ as a group–the drummer settled so that his blonde friends were flanking him. That made it easier to share his updates, considering that he wouldn’t have to lean across the table for one or the other to hear him better. After all, this wasn’t the kinda thing any of them’d want hitting the media anytime soon, if ever, and he almost didn’t wanna share his news now.

“So, how’s he doing?” Bret asked as they waited for their food.

“I’m not gonna get into full detail, just so we don’t lose our appetites,” he warned them, his sharp look warning them not to push him.

“Sounds like it’s gonna be a doozy,” CC mused.

“Pretty much,” Rikki agreed. “Let’s just say he took the saying _shit your guts out_ to a whole new level and leave it at that for now.”

The other blondes’ eyes widened in shock before they looked a bit grossed-out.

“Christ on a crutch,” the vocalist breathed. “Were they able to figure out why?”

“Apparently, he was severely dehydrated,” he answered. “Led to constipation, and the incessant straining from _trying_ to go resulted in–well, what I just said.”

Even the lead guitarist glanced at his glass of Water like he wanted to guzzle all of it now, then kill off five more before they left.

The drummer went on to explain what the nurse’d told them when she’d come out to give an update as Rob was being moved to recovery, making them heave relieved sighs. He made it quite clear that he’d be more or less back to normal in roughly a month, maybe a tops of six weeks, but there’d no doubt be long-term effects. Outta all of them, the biggest potential worry was that this could very well happen again, now that it’d happened to him once, but there were still others.

According to the surgeon who’d eventually come to talk to them, while he might be mostly Healed within a month or so, it’d take three-to-six months for the Silver Fox to make a _full_ recovery. He was also gonna have to lay off the caffeine–which definitely _wouldn’t_ make him happy, as much as he loved his coffee–not to mention Change his diet quite a bit. The surgeon wanted him on a fiber-rich diet geared toward preventing constipation once he was discharged, the first week of which wasta be spent on soft foods only. But the first Day or so _before_ he was discharged, he was gonna be kept on a liquid-only diet to allow his body to start Healing itself from his surgery.

“He’s definitely _not_ gonna like being relegated to just Chicken broth for even a Day or two,” Bret chuckled.

“And when he finds out he’s gonna have to go decaf or give up coffee altogether–whoo, boy, I pity the fool that hasta deal with him,” the lead guitarist agreed.

“You’re telling me,” he agreed, unable to help a chuckle of his own. “I just hope Aerin can handle it, ’cuz she’s prolly gonna get the worst of it.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” the vocalist agreed. “I mean, as his girlfriend, I’d expect no less than _her_ being the one to take care of him the most unless she’s physically unable to, herself.”

“Speaking of, I actually had an idea while I was waiting on Zach to show up,” Rikki said just as their waitress Returned with their food.

They waited till said woman made sure they didn’t need anything else and left again, then CC turned his gaze back to him. “What idea was that, man?”

“I think it’d be better, if he’s closer to the surgeon that split him open for the first couple weeks after he gets sprung,” the drummer explained. “I don’t _think_ anything’ll go wrong, but it’d be better to get him back to the one already familiar with his case, if it _does.”_

“Good point,” Bret agreed, their guitarist nodding his agreement.

“That being said, he prolly oughta stay with one of us,” he continued. “But which one of us, I dunno.”

“Not me, whether I wanna let him or not,” the vocalist said. “Still working on those repairs and renovations I decided to do after the Woolsey Fire.”

“Yeah, prolly not the best of ideas,” Rikki agreed. “He’d never get any sleep, and that’s just gonna make him even crankier when the painkillers wear off.”

“What about you?” the lead guitarist asked.

“I’m thinking about it, but he’ll prolly turn down my offer,” he admitted. “Ya know how wild Lucy can get sometimes, and how that wouldn’t exactly be conducive to someone being fresh outta surgery getting some rest.”

After thinking about it, CC actually surprised his friends by offering to let the Silver Fox and his girlfriend–even the man’s grown son, for that matter–stay with him. His own son mighta just turned fourteen back in March, but he could no doubt be contained a bit easier than the drummer’s often-hyper eight-Year-old daughter. Not only that, but only having the one child to make keep quiet when Rob was actually trying to rest’d be easier than dealing with two children, even though the drummer’s son was about the same age as his own.

With that plan as nailed down as it could be till they got to visit their friend again and talk it over with him, Rikki turned his attention to the other piece of business on his mind. After the mental breakdown he’d witnessed earlier, he wanted to warn the other blondes against using the Silver Fox’s stage name in front of his girlfriend anymore. He didn’t care whether the man liked being called _Rob_ outside the band more or not, or even whether it’d be triggering for the young woman or not. This was already gonna be a trying Time for all of them, but none more so than the couple–he didn’t feel a need to make things any worse for the young woman than they _had_ to, and with something as stupid as a triggering name.

Naturally, Bret and CC were confused when he told them they couldn’t use their friend’s stage name unless it dealt with band business, and _not_ at their friend’s request. Sighing, he was glad he’d gotten Aerin’s permission to do this as he pulled out his phone, knowing he’d need the photographic proof. Even as he unlocked his phone and opened up his text app, he warned the other blondes that they were gonna be as surprised as he’d been. However, certain things were gonna make a lot more sense for them by the Time he’d concluded his tale, just like it’d made a lot more sense for himself.

“Aerin latched on to calling him _Rob_ for a reason–and quite frankly, I don’t blame her,” Rikki said, keeping his hand over his phone’s screen for a moment as he laid it in the Center of the table.

“What reason’s that, though?” The vocalist looked confused as he reached up to tuck his hair behind his ear.

“Her grandfather’s name was also Robert–but for as far back as she can remember, she, her younger brother, and her cousins called him _Bob_ more often than they didn’t,” he explained. “According to her, he said that being called by name didn’t make him feel as old as being called _Grampa_ or _Pappaw,_ which was why he let them get away with it.”

“Aw, fuck,” the lead guitarist winced. “No Wonder she can’t stand referring to her man as _Bobby_ now.”

“Well, there’s more to it than that,” the drummer admitted. “And trust me when I say you’re about to Wish mental condoms were a thing ’cuz of the mind-fuck I’m about to give ya.”

Bret and CC looked confused, but nodded as they waited patiently.

“Guys, this–this is Aerin’s grampa,” he said, finally uncovering his phone’s screen.

Twin gasps rang out as they looked down and took in the obviously very old picture that Dominated said screen. He’d honestly be surprised if their eyes _didn’t_ pop outta their sockets, they were so wide as they took in the features of the man they were looking at. Course, he couldn’t really say that he’d reacted any differently when the young woman’d shown him this very same picture at the hospital earlier in the afternoon. He’d just had more Time to process that fact since it’d been a few hours, so while he was still feeling the surprise, it wasn’t hitting him quite as hard.

“Jesus Christ–this guy looks almost _identical_ to Rob,” CC breathed, somehow remembering to use their friend’s preferred nickname, even in his shock.

“Yeah, their physical similarities at a younger age’re definitely surprising,” the drummer chuckled, swiping his finger so he could switch to the picture she’d shown him when she’d made the comparison.

“Damn, nearly the only thing that’s different’re their noses and ears,” the vocalist said. “Their noses tip at different angles, and this guy’s ears look a bit smaller to me.”

“Could be just the way his hair’s combed back, but yeah, I thought the same thing,” Rikki agreed. “Now, aside from all the bloating in this one…”

Both blondes were even more surprised when he swiped to a picture of a much-older man who’d a cannula shoved up his nose.

“Fuck me, nekkid and runnin’,” the lead guitarist yelped.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear that _was_ Rob,” Bret said.

“Aerin told me this picture was taken all of a month or two before her grampa died,” the drummer explained. “The bloating was caused by the renal failure he was suffering at the Time of his Death.”

“Which woulda been caused by the diabetes she mentioned the Day after we met her,” he breathed, his eyes widening again.

“I’d assume so, but you’ve more Knowledge about that kinda thing than me,” Rikki told him. “But another cause of his bloating was no doubt the congestive heart failure she said he had at the Time, too.”

Even CC agreed that such a thing no doubt wouldn’t have helped him, considering the decreased heart function it do doubt woulda caused. When he revealed that the man’d been sixty-nine when he died–and that he’d just barely made it to that age in the first place–they were even more surprised. Both agreed that he looked at least five Years older than that, but with those Health problems and who knew how many more, he prolly shouldn’t have even made it to sixty.

Tapping the home button at the bottom of his screen before locking the device again, the drummer was quick to agree with those assessments. But that was when he’d to reveal that this man’d died only two Days after Aerin’s twenty-first birthday, which made the other blondes wince sympathetically. Even Bret agreed that–whether it’d been seven Days, weeks, months, or Years–it was no Wonder she was more or less still in mourning for him. If she’d honestly considered him her daddy–even if it was more of a subconscious thing than not–it was no Wonder she didn’t like hearing his old nickname or any variant of it.

But that led the lead guitarist to questioning why she was able to refer to their friend as _Rob_ without any kinda problem, whereas his stage name’d make her freak out. Rikki took a sip of his Water before telling them that pretty much no one’d ever called him Robert, Rob, or Robbie, so she didn’t associate that name with him. It was kinda like calling him by his middle name, which hit a lil too closeta home for the young woman, too.

Now that Bret and CC’d been brought up to speed on the Silver Fox’s condition and why it was a bad idea to keep calling him Bobby during their Time off, all three were quick to finish off their meals. They agreed that going home for the first Time since they’d left to kick off the tour in Jacksonville, Florida on June eighteenth was their best bet. Visiting hours didn’t start till eight the next Morn, and even if they _were_ allowed to visit him right now, their friend was most likely still sleeping off the anesthesia he’d been given. Even the lead guitarist was quick to agree that they’d be better off getting a good Night’s sleep in their own beds, then visiting him first thing in the Morn.

About an hour before visiting hours were supposed to start the next Morn, Rob finally woke for longer than it took to essentially piss in a milk jug. The anesthesia from his emergency surgery’d technically worn off around Midnight, if not earlier, but he’d been so exhausted that he’d seemed like he was still feeling the effects for far longer. Course, that mighta been in part to whatever they’d been giving him for pain, which’d also worn off, judging by how sore his stomach was again.

Unable to help a wince as he tried to readjust himself a bit, he couldn’t help wondering just what’d happened to him. It was pretty obvious that he was in the hospital, which was made pretty obvious by the rhythmic beeping over his head, alone. At least his son and girlfriend were on either side of him, both fast asleep in the chairs they’d settled in hell-only-knew how many hours before.

“Sweetheart,” the Silver Fox managed to grind out, gently shaking her shoulder.

 _“Oh!”_ Aerin gasped, startled awake by the action.

“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to scare ya,” he said, grimacing again.

“Well, it’s ’bout Time ya woke up and were coherent,” the young woman giggled, sitting up more. “Although, I’ll admit that you’re hilarious when you’re drugged.”

 _“Har dee har har,”_ Rob dead-panned as he rolled his eyes. “The fuck happened? ’Cuz all I know’s that I feel like ya tried to gut me with Karma or something.”

“No, nothing like that,” she assured him, rising to help him sit up more since that was obviously what he wanted. “But I’m not surprisedja feel like that after having an abdominal surgery.”

“What?” The Silver Fox’s eyes widened as she dug out his glasses and handed them to him so he’d be able to see straight.

“The long and short of it…” Aerin started.

He listened carefully as she explained that–according to the surgeon who’d operated on him–his stomach pain over the last few Days’d been caused by a couple different things. Firstly, the constipation that’d basically turned into a full-on bowel obstruction since he hadn’t been able to relieve himself, no matter how hard he tried. The second biggest reason was those repeated attempts effectively shearing his rectum away from his pelvic wall a lil at a Time.

Rob’s jaw dropped as she told him that eventually, his attempts at relieving himself’d caused his rectum to basically fall out his ass once it was completely detached from his pelvic wall. Between stretching his asshole more than that orifice was ever meant to stretch combined with exposure to Air, he’d wound up in blinding agony so bad, the EMTs were forced to give him a dose of Fentanyl to combat it.

The Silver Fox couldn’t help a wince as Aerin explained that they’d tried correcting the problem without surgery down in the ER, but their attempts’d been unsuccessful. That was what’d led to him being taken into surgery, where they’d apparently needed the extra room of splitting open his belly to work. If not for that and the amount of exposed tissue, they prolly coulda managed to get his rectum back into place a different way that woulda been quicker and easier to Heal from. Since they’d needed the extra room, they’d been forced to go with the more invasive option, but’d tried to keep their incisions as small as possible.

“At least that’ll help with recovering quicker,” he sighed. “Doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt like a bitch right now, though.”

“Oh, I’m sure it _does,”_ the young woman chuckled. “I mean, ya just had your belly split open, and the painkillers’ve no doubt finally worn off.”

“Considering I feel like I’m being gutted right now,” Rob winced, his hand hovering over his belly like he wanted to touch it, but didn’t dare actually do so.

“I think we’re gonna have to talk to your surgeon about how we can fix that,” she told him. “Personally, I don’t wanna see ya spend too much Time on opioids for a couple different reasons.”

“I’m sure addiction’s one of them,” the Silver Fox said. “Not that I _wanna_ get addicted to anything, that is.”

“That’s definitely one reason,” Aerin agreed with a Sage nod. “Another’s that they tend to _cause_ constipation–”

“And if that’s part of what landed me here to Begin with, we definitely don’t want a repeat,” he cut her off, his eyes widening as he got where she was going.

“Bingo, love,” the young woman said, nodding again. “I don’t wanna see ya in pain, but I don’t wanna see ya wind up addicted or causing a recurrence due to the side effects, either.”

“I think I’d rather take being in pain over either of those two options,” Rob chuckled, wincing again when that made pain streak across his belly. “Ow, fuck–don’t make me laugh, sweetheart.”

 _“Sono spiacente, il mio d’Argento Volpe,”_ she said, letting him squeeze her hand so he wouldn’t be tempted to touch his belly and make it worse.

The Silver Fox couldn’t help humming into the kiss she gave him to help distract him from the pain, which worked exactly how she’d Intended. Once he was able to think straight enough to listen again, his girlfriend warned him that he wasn’t getting discharged till he proved to be able to take a shit without any complications. He couldn’t help a groan at the Thought of having to prove to someone who didn’t know him that he wouldn’t quite literally shit his guts out again, he but understood the reasoning behind it.

No more than ten minutes later, a nurse doing her Morn rounds finally entered his recovery room to check on him, and she was delighted to see him awake and coherent. She wasn’t any more surprised than Aerin’d been when he described his pain as feeling like he was being gutted, saying that such a sensation was fairly normal after the type of surgery he’d undergone.

Said nurse was quick to agree that finding a non-opioid pain management solution was prolly their best bet, considering the cause of his admittance. However, she needed a bit of Time to track down his surgeon, who was supposed to be coming on-duty shortly, so she could bring him in for a thorough exam and for all of them to discuss his options. Rob nodded as she said she’d be back with the aforementioned surgeon as quick as she could, knowing damn good and well it might take a while to find the man. At least she was Intent on finding him as quickly as possible, which was really the best he could prolly as for right about now since his pain actually wasn’t as bad as the past few Days. Well, that was as long as he refrained from so much as chuckling, let alone outright laughing at something he found amusing.

He couldn’t help a sigh as he settled back to relax as much as he possibly could for the moment, Zach finally waking just as the nurse left. Naturally, his son’s first question was how he was feeling, and he couldn’t help a slight smile as he assured him that he was feeling pretty good, all things considered. After all, at least a lil pain after being split open wasta be expected, but compared to the two or three Days that led up to this mess, he’d say this felt more like a paper cut. Even Aerin couldn’t help giving him a reprimanding look, given how many Times she and his band mates’d asked if he was all right, but she was glad to hear he was feeling better.

Rob wouldn’t deny that he couldn’t wait to get outta here, but that brought to mind another question–what the hell were they gonna do immediately after his discharge? He doubted he’d feel up to flying to even Nashville right off the bat, let alone back to the Palm Bay area, which was even further away. Not only that, but he actually said he’d rather stay closer to his surgeon than not, just in case any complications arose shortly after said discharge. Zach and his girlfriend both assured him they’d figure something out, hopefully something other than practically living in a hotel for a couple weeks. Given that there was obviously Time to get that figured out, he wasn’t gonna let it _stress_ him out since he wanted to focus on getting better now.


	25. Twenty-Four

Not the Morn he woke up relatively coherent, but the Morn after _that,_ Rob was finally discharged from UCLA to start recovering at home. By that Time, the rest of his band had come to visit him, and CC’d gotten a chanceta make his offer where he could actually hear it. He couldn’t have been more grateful for his friends already plotting behind his back, even though he normally hated it. Them getting a head-start on what they’d do with him before he was ever discharged solved a problem before it ever really had a chanceta become one.

Upon getting sprung from the hospital, he still wasn’t exactly happy, but it wasn’t exactly ’cuz he’d wound up needing surgery again. It turned out that there pretty much wasn’t anything as strong as a painkiller that was non-opioid, which meant he’d only two choices. He could try getting through the very Beginning of his recovery with absolutely nothing to help with the pain, or he could go home with a prescription for something like Vicodin and just take it sparingly. Something over-the-counter _might_ help, but not nearly as much as an opioid, and his surgeon advised against trying to go it without _something_. Knowing his son and girlfriend would keep a sharp eye on him, he finally agreed to taking an opioid, but so sparingly he’d prolly flush most of it.

His lead guitarist was waiting downstairs once he got wheeled out by said son, ready to take him to his temporary home so he could get some real rest. It wasn’t lost on even Zach that trying to get any sleep in the hospital once the anesthesia’d worn off’d been next to impossible. Nurses doing rounds every few hours and the PA system going off almost constantly kept him awake more than it didn’t, which explained being grouchy.

CC was quick to bite back even a chuckle as he helped get him settled in his front seat, which Naturally caused him to let out a few yelps. The apologies from both men were almost incessant, but he managed to wave them off as they finally got him settled so he was riding shotgun. Rob told them that there wasn’t much they could do to get rid of his pain, and that he wasn’t taking his first dose of Vicodin till he got to the blonde’s house. He didn’t wanna make it that much harder to get him inside, or have to be left in the car to sleep it off before they even tried.

“I know, man, I know–but that doesn’t mean any of us wanna see ya in worse pain than necessary,” he told him as he closed the door for him.

“He’s a point, Dad,” Zach agreed, settling behind the driver’s seat after getting his girlfriend settled behind him.

“The point’s to help ya feel better and recover faster, not cause worse pain than we need to,” said girlfriend added as she reached up to grab his hand.

“I know, guys, and I appreciate it,” the Silver Fox told them as his friend settled in the driver’s seat. “But having been through surgery before, I know that your efforts’re gonna work only up to a certain point.”

“Fair enough,” his friend acquiesced as he cranked his car.

“I just know I can’t say how thankful I am for ya doing this again,” Rob chuckled, squeezing his girlfriend’s hand to get through the pain that flared up. “’Cuz I’m _really_ not feeling up to flying out to Phoenix, let alone Nashville or back home.”

“We kinda figured that’d be the case,” the lead guitarist laughed. “And Rikki made a good point the other Night, too.”

“Yeah, ’cuz I’ll admit that back when I’d my neck surgery, I was kinda worried about going back home to Florida when my surgeon was in Nebraska,” he admitted. “I kept thinking, _What if something goes wrong, and some surgeon at home fucks up what that guy did ’cuz he doesn’t know the whole story?”_

“But God knows you’re not gonna wanna stay in a hotel, just to be closer to your surgeon, if ya don’t have to,” CC said Sagely. “I get it, ’cuz let’s say the roles were reversed–I wouldn’t wanna be stuck in some Florida hotel to recover, if your house was just as closeta the hospital.”

“And fuck knows I wouldn’t make ya do that, as long as I’d an extra room that nobody else was using at the Time like I usually do,” the Silver Fox swore.

The drive to the guitarist’s house was relatively short, and he did everything he could to avoid hitting even the most shallow pothole along the way. When he said he didn’t wanna cause his friend any unnecessary pain, he hadn’t been kidding, and if that meant driving half-on the shoulder, he’d do it. Luckily, there was only one pothole he simply couldn’t avoid, and that was just ’cuz some asshole pulled up alongside him and wouldn’t let him make a lane-Change quick enough.

Once they pulled into his driveway, Rob couldn’t help heaving a sigh of relief, his head tilted back against the head-rest as he parked. He could tell when he opened his eyes again by the look on her face that his girlfriend wasn’t exactly keen on the Spanish style of the architecture, which made him laugh, despite the pain it caused him. Whether she meant to or not, she couldn’t help studying such things with a critical eye since she was highly into interior design, not to mention landscaping. After all, she was the one who’d taken over when redecorating the house she actually lived in and charge over those things for Ash’s flips, too.

CC was a bit disturbed by his friend’s reaction at first, but couldn’t help a laugh of his own once he managed to Calm down enough to explain it to him. He admitted that it hadn’t exactly been his favorite when he’d bought the place, either, but the criteria he’d put on what kinda Space he wanted matched up too well. Given that he’d paid only about a million for the place back when it was first built in 2005, he’d gladly take an architecture style he wasn’t exactly fond of since that was relatively cheap for the area, especially for the amount of Space he was talking about.

“I mean, five beds and four baths? I’ve seen places the same size go for a helluva lot more around here,” the lead guitarist said.

“Definitely can’t argue _that_ reasoning, I suppose,” Aerin agreed.

“And since I’ve been able to morph various Spaces over the Yearsta suit any given need at any given Time, it makes it even better,” he told her as he opened his door.

Just as he stepped out, a teenage boy that she’d have sworn was just a younger version of him rounded the corner from the recessed from door.

“How can I help, Dad?” he asked.

“Why don’tcha get a couple of their bags and show Aerin to the downstairs bedroom,” CC suggested. “Zach and I’ll handle getting Rob in so he doesn’t accidentally hurtcha, just in case he falls or something.”

Nodding, he turned his attention to the young woman. “My name’s Vallon,” he told her.

“A pleasure,” she chuckled. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d have sworn ya were a younger clone of your dad when ya bounded ’round the corner.”

“Ugh, I _hate_ being told that, even if it’s true,” Vallon groaned, reaching into his dad’s trunk.

“Hey, she says the same thing about me and _my_ dad, kiddo,” Zach laughed as he opened the passenger’s door.

“I swear, your dad spitcha out without even needing your mom!” the young woman defended herself with a laugh.

“Brain bleach–I need brain bleach!” he cried dramatically, much to the teenager’s amusement. “Bad mental images, man–I’ma have nightmares for a month now!”

“Oh, shut your yap, boy, and get me outta here,” Rob chuckled. “’Cuz like it or not, ya really _are_ my Mini-Me as much as Vallon’s _CC’s_ Mini-Me.”

Vallon couldn’t help another laugh as he led the young woman into the house, finally starting to feel a lil better about being called that. Seeing another guy being told the same thing about himself and his own dad made him realize that he wasn’t the only one stuck in that boat, and he couldn’t deny that they were definitely funny. Then again, he hadn’t seen his Uncle Bobby in a while, so he was kinda looking forward to getting to spend some Time with him, even if it coulda been for a better reason.

Immediately to their left when they walked in was what he said was the study, the foyer opening into the downstairs hallway. Gesturing for her to follow him, he pointed out the L-shaped staircase to their right just where the foyer shifted slightly to the right to open into that hallway. Right next to the stairs was the entranceta the downstairs bedroom, it and its bathroom being right under the upstairs landing.

The young man apologized as he led her into the bedroom, saying that unfortunately, said bathroom was really just an oversized half-bath. Aerin waved off his apology, saying that her boyfriend wouldn’t be able to actually shower till after his stitches got taken out and she’d just deal with it. She wasn’t surprised when he cocked a brow at her as he set her bag down, prompting her to do the same with said boyfriend’s before turning to follow him back outta the room. This was gonna have to be explained to him sooner or later, if they were gonna be staying here for at least a couple weeks, after all.

“It’s actually in his discharge paperwork that he’s not supposed to get his incision wet, and waterproof bandages go only so far,” the young woman explained. “As for me–well, the stairs’ll aggravate my arthritis a lil, but nothing I haven’t dealt with before.”

“You’ve arthritis?” Vallon asked, looking surprised.

“Rheumatoid, unfortunately,” she answered, nodding. “Basically means that my immune system’s slowly eating my joints, but there’s not really much I can do.”

“Ouch, that can’t feel good,” the young man winced.

“Not really, which’s why I often say I don’t get along with stairs, and they don’t get along with me,” Aerin chuckled. “But I’ve my own meds, just in case I need ’em, and I’m used to dealing with stairs.”

“I’m guessing you’ve to deal with them back home?” he asked as they got to the top of the stairs.

“The main stairs _and_ the servants’ stairs off the kitchen, depending on which route I take through the house,” the young woman answered.

“Well, at least this house’s only the one set of stairs,” Vallon said with a chuckle of his own. “That bedroom all the way at the End of the hall’s its own bathroom, so ya can shower in there.”

She followed where he was pointing to his left from the top of the stairs in question.

“The door right next to it’s to the guest room,” the young man continued as he headed over to it. “Means Zach’ll be sharing a bathroom with me, but I’m sure he’s done worse.”

“Oh, definitely, kiddo,” Aerin agreed as she peeked in.

“My room’s the next door down, across from the laundry room, and the double doors lead to Dad’s domain,” he concluded. “Personally, I stay outta Dad’s room unless I’ve to wake him up for something–never know _what_ I’ma see in there and all.”

“Trust me when I say I’m sure I’ve at least heard worse than anything ya can think of,” the young woman laughed. “Let’s just say my mother was into some–ahem, _alternative practices_ and leave it at that before I get myself in trouble for telling such thingsta a minor.”

“I doubt I’d wanna know, if you’re saying that,” Vallon told her, even though he’d a bit of a curious glint in his eyes.

Once he’d set Zach’s bag on the guest bed, they turned to head back downstairs just as said young man and CC got his dad into the house. Judging by the groan they heard as they got back to the landing, the Silver Fox was gonna be even more glad that they were being put in the downstairs bedroom. No doubt he needed a dose of his painkiller worse than he already had by the Time they’d gotten him into the guitarist’s car, and they all knew it was gonna throw his balance off even worse.

Said guitarist told him it was up to him whether he chilled in the living room for a bit, or went straight into that aforementioned bedroom. He wasn’t gonna make him feel like a prisoner in the latter, but warned him that the study and formal living room were a bit sunken, so they’d a couple steps that led down into them. The more informal living room–which the young woman’d call more of a den than not–was on the back side of that downstairs bedroom next to the kitchen. Said kitchen opened into both of the rooms that flanked it, so those wouldn’t be as hard for him to manage, more than likely.

A thoughtful look crossed Rob’s face before he ultimately decided on heading straight to bed since he knew how he got while doped up. Not only that, but he was already tired to Begin with since he hadn’t gotten much sleep in the hospital once that anesthesia’d worn off. He saw no reason to take chances with stumbling into something and/or falling on his way to the bedroom once his Vicodin kicked in.

“All right, man,” CC told him, nodding. “Vallon, go heat him up a can of soup real quick–I’ll worry about a real dinner later.”

“Yes, sir,” the young man answered, heading down that front hallway.

“Let’s getcha to bed, Dad,” Zach said, readjusting his grip on him slightly.

“Fuck, remind me not to do anything that’ll require surgery again,” he groaned, letting his guitarist lead him into the guest room he was being put in.

“Note to Self,” the guitarist started, cutting himself off with a grin as he shot him a dirty look. “Hey, ya said to remindja later!”

“I was being sarcastic, ya lovable ass,” Rob snarked back, his smirk belying any true malice.

“Hey, be glad I even _have_ a downstairs room to putcha in,” he told him. “’Cuz this coulda been something else, according to the floor plan–or me, for that matter.”

“Oh, I’m definitely grateful,” the Silver Fox assured him. “Better than trying to fight stairs right now, for damn sure.”

Walking into the downstairs guest room, he was more than a lil glad to see the bed against the wall that separated bed- from bathroom. It meant he didn’t have to actually cross the room before he was able to settle on the edge of it, which drew a relieved sigh from him. His own son and the guitarist were quick to get him settled so he was reclining against the headboard, but not in a way that’d pinch his incision funny.

Aerin was hot on their heels and quick to start digging through her bag, and he knew without question what she was going after. She’d warned him before he’d ever gotten his discharge paperwork that she’d a few tricks up her sleeve to help speed his Healing, as long as he’d an open mind. He’d thought about it for a few moments before saying that as long as he didn’t turn out to be allergic to whatever she Intended to use, he was open to just about anything. Healing sooner rather than later’d at least mean he’d get to lose these damn stitches quicker, even if he’d to spend the entire next month in Los Angeles.

Just as she’d gathered what she needed from her bag, Vallon knocked on the bedroom door, a pack of crackers in that hand. In his other hand, he held a steaming bowl with a towel between it and his palm to avoid burning himself, and they all knew what that meant. The young woman was quick to shoot him a smile as she told him to just set it on the dresser for right now so he wouldn’t have to stand there holding it. Normally, she’d have told him to put it on the nightstand, but she kinda needed it at the moment, so that wouldn’t work.

“I’m not gonna deny that I’m kinda curious,” he told them. “Never seen anybody right after surgery before.”

“It’s kinda gnarly, kiddo,” Rob chuckled. “Then again, so was the incision they made into my neck when I first got outta _that_ surgery, too.”

“Eh, I can handle most gross stuff,” the young man chuckled. “But I get it, if you’d rather have your privacy, Uncle Bobby.”

CC shot his son a look when he saw Aerin stiffen as she set out her herbal remedies. “Out in the hall for a minute, son,” he told him.

Wondering what he’d just done wrong, Vallon stepped out to the entranceta this particular room on the other side of the bathroom door.

“I’ma try to be gentle about this since ya didn’t know, all right?” the guitarist said.

“All right, ’cuz now I feel like I’m five again,” he agreed, nodding.

“He doesn’t like being called _Bobby_ outside the band, first of all,” CC told him. “And didja notice how Aerin stiffened when ya called him that?”

“Yeah, I did–and I thought it was a lil weird,” the young man admitted.

“Her grampa’s name was Bob, and he passed not quite seven Years ago,” he explained. “What made it worse–her grampa was more like her daddy as a kid.”

Vallon’s eyes widened. “Oh, shit–I’ma apologize for that the first chance I get.”

The guitarist chuckled and assured him that it was fine, that she wouldn’t hold it against him since he hadn’t known the reason behind her aversion to that name previously. But he made it clear that was why he was telling him about it now, so he wouldn’t keep making that mistake _’cuz_ he didn’t know. Rikki’d said she’d practically had a mental breakdown while they were waiting any kinda update on the Silver Fox, and he didn’t wanna see that for himself.

Nodding his Understanding, the teenager turned to precede his dad back into the guest room, CC asking which upstairs guest room he’d put Zach in. He didn’t exactly wanna see this part, ’cuz he wouldn’t deny being a lil on the squeamish side when it came to things like surgical incisions. Laughing, he told him that the other young man’d be sharing a bathroom with him, which was a good enough answer to his question for him.

“Yikes, that definitely looks like it hurts,” he said as he turned to the bed.

“Doesn’t feel _good,_ that’s for sure,” Rob chuckled, wincing as he held his shirt up so his belly was exposed.

“Don’t be laughing, if it’s gonna make ya hurt even worse,” the young man admonished him.

“Sometimes, it just can’t be helped, kiddo,” he retorted, shooting him a grin. “Besides, your dad toldja to go get me some soup so I can take something to help with that.”

“Vicodin,” Aerin answered before he could even ask. “You’re not supposed to take a narcotic painkiller on an empty stomach, or it’ll make ya sick.”

“Ugh, I wouldn’t want that with a stitched hole in _my_ belly, either,” Vallon said. “Need any help?”

“If ya wanna and he’ll letcha,” she told him. “He can be as picky as I can about who touches him or his gear, depending on his mood.”

“It’s that, or gimme a hand to squeeze,” the Silver Fox said. “’Cuz I get the feeling this is ’bout to burn like a bitch.”

“Well, it’s Saltwater,” his girlfriend retorted with a laugh. “Whaddaya _think_ it’s gonna do?”

Letting out a laugh of his own, the young man settled on the edge of the bed next to his surrogate uncle so he could still see, but let him squeeze his hand. Rob warned him that he might squeeze a lil tighter than he meant to, so he shouldn’t be afraid to whack his arm, if that happened. Cleaning a surgical incision could really hurt, after all, but some things made it hurt worse than others–and Saltwater was one of those things.

As she soaked a Cotton ball with the aforementioned fluid, Vallon couldn’t help turning a curious look on the young woman as he asked why she’d choose that particular method of cleaning it. He thought her aim wasta _avoid_ causing her boyfriend pain, not make the pain he was already in worse with such a simple action. The young woman couldn’t help a laugh as she said that–while it’d definitely burn worse than something like peroxide–the Saltwater was better. It’d help keep it clean like his doctor’d ordered, but it’d also help it Heal faster by drying it out a lil at a Time, which’d help with scab formation.

“I’ve done the same thing to myself, and I can’t say my mom ever lied to me about _that,”_ Aerin said.

 _“Ohhhh.”_ The young man nodded.

“Deep breath, love,” she told her man as she glanced up at him.

 _“Argh,”_ Rob groaned, clenching his fist around his surrogate nephew’s hand as she started gently dabbing. “Yeah, that shit _definitely_ burns!”

“Better than letting it get infected, though,” the young woman reminded him, even as his toes curled.

“If not for that, I’d smack ya silly,” he grumbled, hissing through his teeth. “And I was raised _not_ to hit a woman, damn it.”

“Oh, I _know_ you’d have a damn good reason for hitting me, if ya did that,” Aerin laughed. “Ya seem to forget that unless ya knock me out or kill me, I’ma hitcha back–and prolly twice as hard.”

Vallon couldn’t help a chuckle at their more or less playful bickering as she cleaned his incision.

“She’s not kidding, either, kiddo,” the Silver Fox ground out. “Ask your dad–we watched her sock one of her best friends in the arm so hard, she knocked him over into his own girlfriend’s lap backstage in Nashville.”

“Hey, he asked for it–literally!” she defended herself with a grin as she finished up her task.

“Oh, I know he did, or Ash wouldn’t have kept goading ya that Eve,” Rob chuckled, finally loosening his grip on the hand he held as he sighed.

“Did he _really?”_ the young man asked.

“My buddy, Ash, knows what buttons he can push and when,” Aerin assured him. “We’d been telling your dad and the others that I was known to hit like a guy, despite my size, and he decided to put himself on the line to prove it.”

“But she won’t hit anyone without being provoked the right way,” the Silver fox explained. “So, he’d to goad her into hitting him.”

As she moved to cut a piece of gauze to size, she explained that if she’d hit him in the chest like she’d wanted to, a punch that hard prolly woulda stopped his heart. Since she obviously didn’t wanna kill her boyfriend or any of her close friends, she’d chosen to sock him in the arm when he’d kept goading her, but she’d still proven her point. Course, to be quite honest, she’d thought he’d purposely fell over more so than the blow actually knocked him over into his girlfriend’s lap. He was just the kinda guy who’d never admit whether she was right or not, so she hadn’t bothered asking him even once, let alone twice.

Vallon was quick to grab the bowl of soup he’d warmed up as she was cleaning up her mess once that gauze was taped down. His surrogate uncle thanked him for the help he’d given thus far, gingerly settling the bowl on his lower chest so it was somewhat tilted. After all, he knew better than to settle it on his belly, but he wasn’t in the mood to sit up more than he already was, either.

Aerin was quick to lay one of his painkillers in his spoon after he’d taken a few bites, careful to make sure the teenager in the room see where they’d been hidden. She didn’t necessarily think he was the trouble-making type of kid they’d to worry about, but she’d still rather be safe than sorry. If that meant assuming he _was_ the kinda kid she’d to worry about getting into their painkillers for a not-so-good reason and being pleasantly surprised when she was proven wrong, she’d rather go that route. Her boyfriend already knew what she was thinking and didn’t really blame her, but he’d have been quick to assure her his surrogate nephew definitely _wasn’t_ that kinda kid, if his mouth hadn’t been full.

It wasn’t long after he’d gotten that pill down the hatch that Rob started to get drowsy and a lil silly as it started kicking in. Vallon couldn’t help a soft laugh any more than the young woman could as he took his bowl and set it on the nightstand long enough to help him get readjusted so that he was stretched out on his side. Neither of the conscious, sober pair missed how he tucked his right hand in a way that seemed like he was trying to defend his incision, even as he started to doze off. Deeming him perfectly fine for the moment, though, the young man was quietly ushered from the room so he could get some rest while he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a link to what's _supposed_ to be CC's house in this particular story, for anyone who wants the visual... It might actually be a Mediterranean style–I'm not exactly sure–but I know it's that or the one I described it as in the chapter.  
> ~Firefly
> 
> Link to CC's House–https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/11721-Chenault-St-Los-Angeles-CA-90049/20535419_zpid/?


	26. Twenty-Five

“Miss Aerin? I just wanted to apologize for upsetting ya a lil while ago.”

Aerin looked up from the historic Romance novel she’d settled on CC’s couch with after leaving her boyfriend to get some rest once his Vicodin’d kicked in. She wasn’t surprised to see the guitarist’s teenage son standing next to the couch, a bit of a contrite look on his face, which made her laugh as she bookmarked her page for now. Even still, she patted the cushion next to him as she laid the book aside, figuring she’d just read a bit of it later, if her Spacial insomnia kicked in that Night.

“Ya don’t have to apologize for something ya didn’t know about till your dad toldja,” she said. “And unless he’s gonna bust your butt for doing otherwise, drop the _Miss_ –makes me feel older than I am, and my joints do that enough already.”

Vallon couldn’t help a chuckle as he settled beside her, a foot tucking up under his rump. “If you’re sure about that,” he told her.

“I’m only a few Years younger than Zach, and I don’t hear ya putting _Mister_ in front of _his_ name,” the young woman laughed.

“He’s practically my cousin, though!” he retorted with a laugh of his own. “Course, that kinda makes me wonder if _you’d_ be more of an aunt to me.”

“I guess that depends on how ya see Rob, and whether he and I stay together–although I honestly don’t foresee otherwise happening,” the young woman said.

“Well, he’s basically been my uncle growing up,” the young man told her. “Same goes for Uncles Bret and Rikki, too–he’s just the one I don’t get to see as often.”

“I know the feeling, to a certain extent,” Aerin admitted. “He lives in Florida, and I live in Tennessee with my best friends–it can be hard to arrange tripsta see each other sometimes.”

“What part of Tennessee?” he asked, sounding curious.

“Not far from Nashville,” the young woman chuckled. “That’s why we were in that City the Night Ash goaded me into socking him one. We’d already made plansta go to that particular concert before I ever met Rob, so when the tour got postponed, we decided to still go rather than waste the tickets.”

Vallon couldn’t help a chuckle, although he proved equally curious as to how she’d met the Silver Fox, if she’d already known him at the Time of that postponed show. She couldn’t help a grin as she explained that part, still easily recalling how surprised he’d been when she’d told Ash to smack her before she did something stupid. Granted, she made sure not to tell him what Rob’d done as far as a first date went the very Night after they’d met–well, when it came to the sexual shenanigans, that is.

The young man admitted that his surrogate uncle was definitely a Romantic, just like his own dad, when he felt like it. Maybe he was a lil more gentlemanly in some ways than the wild guitarist, but that didn’t necessarily mean either of them were inherently bad guys. Aerin chuckled and said that she’d much rather folks’ve their differences, ’cuz the World would get boring pretty quickly, if everybody was the same.

“So, ya _really_ don’t care that he’s old enough to be your dad?” he asked.

“Age’s just a number assigned by humanity, as far as I’m concerned,” the young woman answered Sagely. “Given the way I act, think, and talk more often than not combined with my arthritis, you’d think I was Rob’s age. But that’s one of the ways we Balance out–folks tend to think I’m older than I am, and they tended to think _he_ was _younger_ than he is till he went gray.”

“That was another thing I was gonna ask about,” Vallon admitted.

“What–whether I care about him being a wrinkly, gray-headed old man?” Aerin laughed. “The answer’s no–I actually like that he’s not afraid to show his age like a lotta celebrities seem to be.”

“Can’t say I’ve met many folks like that,” the young man told her.

“My personal opinion’s that humanity’s too much of a God complex,” she said. “If it’d been _my_ choice and in line with his own Wishes, I wouldn’t have had Rob whisked off to the hospital this Time–if it was his Time to go, then it was simply his Time.”

“So, you’re not scared of Death?” Vallon asked.

“Death and taxes’re the only things that’re guaranteed in Life, kiddo,” the young woman chuckled. “Everything else between Birth and Death’s up for debate.”

“Too bad you’re not my age, or I’d ask ya to be _my_ girlfriend,” he laughed.

“Too bad that I like my guys older than me, so you’d _still_ be SOL, even if that _were_ the case,” Aerin retorted with a grin. “Which’s another reason I like being with Rob–we get each other in ways that others can’t, and he fits the criteria of being in the age range I tend to prefer.”

The young man looked thoughtful for a few moments before he finally asked about what’d landed his surrogate uncle in the hospital in the first place. He admitted that his dad hadn’t told him much beyond his need for surgery, and he wasn’t too sure whether it was ’cuz he’d thought he couldn’t handle it or not. Course, it mighta just been that CC couldn’t handle thinking about it long enough to explain, whether he’d thought he could handle knowing or not.

She wore a thoughtful look of her own for a few moments as she sized him up, wondering just how much she should tell him. Considering that he hadn’t made the slightest complaint when he’d watched her clean Rob’s incision, she figured he could prolly handle being told. However, she warned him that the details could definitely be a bit graphic, and that he ought not be scared to stop her, if he Changed his mind about wanting to know. After all, she wasn’t trying to scar him for Life–even though that might actually happen–so she didn’t want him letting her go too far just so he could prove himself macho. There was a difference between Bravery and stupidity, and trying to be macho for just about any reason was usually pretty stupid.

“All right,” Vallon agreed with a nod.

“The phrase _shit your guts out_ takes on a whole new meaning to Rob, not to mention those of us closest to him,” the young woman started.

His brow furrowed in confusion, but he didn’t try to interrupt her.

“He’d what’s called a rectal prolapse,” Aerin said. “Basically, that means that his rectum came loose from his insides and fell out his rump.”

“Oh, gross!” the young man cried, even as he laughed. “I’m glad _I_ wasn’t there to see that!”

“Wish I could say the same–and so does your Uncle Rikki and Nikki Sixx, I’m sure,” she chuckled.

“They actually saw it?” Vallon asked, his eyes widening.

“Kinda hard _not_ to when they were the onesta pull Rob up off the can to get him outta that handicap stall,” the young woman answered.

“Okay, I guess I can get that,” he said thoughtfully. “But did _that_ part hurt?”

“Judging by his screaming, I’d say it hurt quite a bit,” Aerin told him. “They’d to give him Fentanyl to help with the pain and getting him to shut up so he wasn’t crying anymore.”

“Yikes.” The young man couldn’t help a wince. “I’ve seen Uncle Rob in some nasty pain before, but never anything that makes him cry.”

“Well, if I’m lying about him actually having tears running down his face a few Nights ago, I’m dying–and lemme tell ya, kiddo, I don’t feel like I’m dying,” she said.

“I’m guessing cutting his belly open was the only way they could fix that at the hospital?” Vallon asked.

“Not necessarily–it was just the _best_ way,” the young woman corrected him. “Sometimes, a rectal prolapse can be fixed through a small cut in that Space between a guy’s balls and his–ahem, anus.”

He couldn’t help a laugh at the Thought, although he was quick to cross his legs as he said he wouldn’t want a doctor cutting on him _there,_ if he could help it. Aerin let out a laugh of her own as she agreed wholeheartedly, but said that sometimes, that kinda thing couldn’t be helped. Women’d the same Space, after all–it was just laid out differently than it was for a man since male and female bodies were built differently for a reason.

“The surgeon _woulda_ chosen that way, if there hadn’t been so much exposed tissue,” she said once they’d Calmed down. “But ’cuz of how much tissue was exposed and how they’d to anchor it back into place inside him, it was better and easier to go in through his belly.”

“That makes sense,” the young man mused.

“And they still tried to keep their incisions small so he wouldn’t take as long to Heal,” Aerin continued. “But it’s still a cut into his belly, all the same, so it ain’t like it’ll be just a couple Days till he’s good as new.”

“It goes a lot deeper than just cutting yourself on a broken glass or something, after all,” he agreed Sagely.

“Exactly.” The young woman nodded her own agreement. “That’s the main reason we’re crashing here instead of trying to go back East just yet.”

Vallon couldn’t help wondering exactly what she meant by that, and he wasn’t any more shy in asking that question that he’d been with any others he’d asked thus far. She made no bones about Rob being a bit hesitant to try going back even as far as Nashville just yet, let alone all the way home. While they didn’t think it’d actually happen, he could possibly have a recurrence as he Healed, or some other complication could crop up. They all thought it wiser to hang around this area so he was closer to his surgeon, who’d already be familiar with his case instead of needing to be brought up to speed like anyone else would.

“Makes sense,” he agreed. “I’d prolly be the same way, if I’d to have surgery so far from home and had at least one friend living in the area.”

“That’s why we were actually thinking about finding a hotel suite to camp out in till your dad offered to let us stay here instead,” Aerin admitted. “Not to mention he and the other guys made some good points against even a hotel.”

The young man cocked a brow curiously.

“Well, hotels’re notoriously noisy, and not exactly conducive to somebody recovering from surgery getting any rest,” she said. “Bret’s house woulda been just as bad due to renovations, and so would Rikki’s from having noisy kids running around.”

“Yeah, Jude and Lucy–especially Lucy– _can_ get pretty loud sometimes,” Vallon chuckled. “I mean, so can I, but I know better when I know somebody’s trying to sleep.”

“Trust me, and ask your dad, if ya don’t believe me–one dirty look from me shuts even Zach up, if somebody’s trying to get some rest and someone else’s being too loud,” the young woman laughed.

“Damn, seriously?” he chuckled.

“She’s not kidding, kiddo.”

Looking up, they saw Zach helping the guitarist carry in some bags from where they’d obviously gone shopping for extra groceries. Aerin was quick to rise so she could at least start unbagging what they brought in, even though the younger man tried to convince her to do otherwise. However, that gave her the perfect opportunity to give him one of those dirty looks that shut him up in a heartbeat, and therefore prove her point to the young man she’d been talking to.

Even CC couldn’t help a laugh as he helped her with putting everything away, saying that she could definitely be a scary woman when she felt like it. Not many women’d ever scared him, let alone scared him to the very marrow of his bones, but she was one he definitely wouldn’t wanna tangle with. He wasn’t too sure whether she’d actually kill him, or simply make him _Wish_ he was dead, and he didn’t wanna find out the hard way.

Vallon couldn’t help laughing at his dad’s admission, ’cuz he knew said blonde to be damn near Fearless, especially when it came to women. Hearing him admit that he was actually scared of one was amusing, if only ’cuz he’d never thought to see the Day that he heard him say such a thing. That made said blonde stick his tongue out at him and say that even Rob was scared of her sometimes, but he’d his ways of Calming her down before she exploded for the most part. The rest of them didn’t have that advantage, so once they set her off–well, they’d to deal with the consequences, ’cuz they’d no other choices.

“Note to Self–don’t ever piss _this_ girl off, even if she’s shorter than me,” the young man chuckled.

“That’d be your best bet, kiddo,” Zach told him with a chuckle of his own. “She’s a sadistic one when she gets pissed enough.”

“What’s that mean?” he asked, his brow furrowing again.

“A sadist’s someone who likes _causing_ pain–a masochist’s someone who likes _receiving_ pain,” Aerin explained. “I generally don’t like taking it ’cuz of my arthritis, but I’ve been known to dish out quite a bit sometimes.”

“Yet, you’ve piercings and you’re covered in tattoos,” Vallon laughed.

“’Cuz I got the piercings when I was an idiotic teenager, and I told Ash to hit me with his tattoo gun or I was gonna hit _him_ so I’d have a _different_ kinda pain to focus on,” the young woman retorted.

It wasn’t long before they’d gotten the groceries put up, a few things having to be rearranged so they could actually fit it all into the pantry on the back side of the stove and various cabinets. Once they’d gotten that taken care of, CC decided he wanted to go over the diet his friend had been put on, just so he’d know what he could and couldn’t have at the moment. He wasn’t saying that his son and girlfriend couldn’t handle that part of his care, but he still wanted to know just in case he wound up being the only one awake at any given Time and his meal prep fell on him as a result.

To that End, even the lone teenager wanted to go over that part of his discharge paperwork, just to be sure he didn’t make a mistake that could hurt his surrogate uncle. Aerin was glad to see that they both wanted to be as involved as they could be, ’cuz she considered it one of the best forms of support. If they all banded together, none of them’d get too overworked during the hardest part of his recovery, which was a good thing.

But even as they were deciding on something for dinner they could all agree on that wouldn’t tease Rob too much, she didn’t tell them that more trouble was brewing as they spoke. She wasn’t about to tell anyone but her boyfriend about this particular issue, ’cuz it really wasn’t anything too serious–it was just embarrassing and pretty personal for her. If she was forced into telling someone else, she’d do it, but not without practically fighting the men she was surrounded by before she did.


	27. Twenty-Seven

The Morn after his discharge from the hospital, part of Rob wasn’t surprised that he woke in one of CC’s guest beds alone. After all, he’d known from the very first Night he’d met her when she wound up sleeping in his lap that his girlfriend oft had trouble sleeping in unfamiliar places. He’d hoped that wouldn’t happen here in his friend’s home, but he’d also known it was a very distinct possibility, all the same.

Managing to get up and to the lil half-bath right outside this bedroom’s doorway on his own was a lil harder than he’d anticipated, but not completely impossible. He’d to move even slower than he remembered having to immediately after his neck surgery, but at least this Time, he could look down at his feet. Last Time, he’d been stuck in what he called the _collar from Hell_ to hold his cervical spine still, which kept him from being able to look down so he wouldn’t trip on anything. That even included looking down to aim, which’d left him forced to sit down just to piss like a woman since he couldn’t see to hit the toilet bowl.

After taking care of _that_ particular business, the Silver Fox decided to see if he could try to find his girlfriend and hoped she was on the first floor. There was no way he was even gonna attempt mounting the stairsta try searching for her on the second without someone to help him. He wasn’t so sure he could manage it without falling, should a sudden Lightning bolt of pain streak across his belly again. Considering that this hurt bad enough as it was, he didn’t fancy adding to his pain by falling down the stairs or anything of the like.

In the den that opened up into the kitchen, he was a bit surprised to find Vallon on the couch with Aerin, who appeared to be in quite a bit of pain of her own. Even though he was worried about her now, he still kept his movements slow as he crossed the room, mostly ’cuz he didn’t have anything to grab for balance unless he stuck to the kitchen wall once he passed the dining room archway. But apparently, the teenager heard even his soft footfalls and looked up, almost immediately abandoning the young woman in favor of helping him over to the couch. He shot him a grateful smile as he wedged himself against his side, somehow not surprised he was stronger than he appeared, but still tried not to put _too_ much of his weight on him.

 _“Ohhhh,_ sweetheart–what’s wrong?” Rob asked on a groan as he managed to sit down.

“Fuck me, nekkid and runnin’,” she mewled into her knees. Her whimper turned into a sharp yelp when he made to rub her back and his fingers just barely brushed the spot right above her ass.

“Again?” the Silver Fox sighed.

 _“Yes,_ again,” Aerin moaned, yelping again as she tried to shift into a more comfortable position.

“Watch my incision, but I wantcha to stretch out across my lap so I can take a look,” he told her.

Even though she clearly didn’t wanna with Vallon watching, the young woman managed to do just that.

 _“Mmmm,”_ Rob hummed after pulling the waistband of her boxers and PJ britches down. “I betcha if ya go take a hot shower, it’ll pop within an hour.”

“What the hell?”

Glancing up as he pulled her waistbands back up, the Silver Fox saw his shortest blonde band mate. “Trust me when I say ya don’t wanna know, C.”

“It looked like a giant zit,” the teenager mused.

“’Cuz it _is,”_ Aerin whimpered. “And it hurts like a fuckin’ _bitch!”_

“Okay, I’m out!” CC laughed, practically running into his kitchen. “Too early, not enough coffee, for gross shit!”

“That’s _always_ the case with you, man!” Rob retorted with a chuckle.

“So, is a hot shower the only thing that’ll help?” Vallon asked, his attention still riveted on the young woman’s plight.

“Heat’ll help make it do something called _come to a head,_ yeah,” he answered, nodding. “And these things’re incredibly messy when they pop, so it’s usually best to do that part in the shower.”

“Doesn’t seem like it’d be very easy to pop with it on her back like that,” the teenager mused.

Shaking his head, he admitted that he usually had to get in the shower with her for that part, and for a couple different reasons. First and foremost, Vallon was right about it being hard for her to pop and subsequently drain on her own since it was right at the top of her ass crack. That wasn’t to say that she _couldn’t_ manage such a feat on her own–it was just harder since she’d to go entirely by feel.

But the second reason he usually had to help her was ’cuz it was so painful, it was hard for her to hold enough pressure on it long enough to actually pop it. The hot Water’d help numb it so that it didn’t hurt quite as bad, but it still brought her quite a bit of pain till it was almost fully drained. Since he obviously wouldn’t feel that pain, it was easier for him to keep that pressure applied till it popped and started draining. It was also easier for him to see, even when looking down over her shoulder, so he could tell when it was almost drained and ready to have a Band-Aid stuck over it till it finished draining on its own.

“Well, if that’s the case, I can help her, if she’ll lemme,” the teenager said with a shrug.

“I’m not so sure that’s a smart idea, bud,” CC interjected from the kitchen.

“So what, if I think she’s attractive, Dad?” he shot back. “She’s already made it pretty clear I’d be SOL, even if we _were_ the same age.”

Even the Silver Fox looked surprised when he said that, which just made his girlfriend laugh.

“He got to asking if I cared whether ya were an wrinkly, gray-headed man old enough to be my dad or not yesterday afternoon,” Aerin chuckled. “I told him that I didn’t, that I actually liked it, and he said it was a shame I wasn’t his age so he could ask me out.”

“To which, ya basically responded with something akin to the SOL remark,” he said, Enlightenment Dawning on him.

 _“Mmm hmm,_ ’cuz I’d bean him with a skillet, if he started hitting on me,” the young woman admitted.

“I’m leaving it up to you, C,” Rob said as he looked back up. “This joker’ll eventually pop on its own, if we don’t make her get in the shower–but I’m not guaranteeing your couch’ll survive without a helluva stain, if we go that route.”

“Then get her in the shower, even if my minor son’s to get in with her!” the guitarist laughed. “I don’t feel like replacing my couch–it’s comfy!”

Laughing, despite it making his own pain flare up, he made Vallon pay attention for a sec before he’d let him assist the young woman to her feet. Positioning his thumbs a certain way without actually pressing on the currently-hidden angry flesh, he told him that using the pads of his thumbs’d prolly be easiest. He _could_ use his fingers, but his thumbs’d allow him to put more pressure along the outer edges of the whole thing all at once. That, and he recommended _not_ kneeling behind her, even though he’d be able to see better–he wouldn’t wanna get blasted in the face with what shot out once it popped, depending on how much pressure was being applied when it did.

Nodding, the teenager gently helped Aerin up, taking care not to make her accidentally whack his fresh incision in a way that sent Stars streaking across his vision. He wasn’t surprised to see him wrap an arm around her shoulders, his girlfriend wrapping an arm around the boy’s waist, as he steered her toward the foyer. She almost always started limping like her hip was acting up, if this thing swelled up enough like it’d done this Time, and it also made said hip act up from forcing her to sit funny.

* * *

After getting her upstairsta his dad’s bathroom, Vallon let the young woman entrusted to his care lean on the bathroom counter while he was starting the shower. He’d decided against the guest bathroom he’d pointed out to her the afternoon previous ’cuz the shower was a lot smaller than the one in the master bath. Not only that, but judging by the way she was limping, he wasn’t sure if she’d be able to step over the tub wall without falling and hurting herself, which he definitely didn’t wanna see her do. His aim right now wasta help her with her plight, not cause her _more_ pain–especially if falling were to make her arthritis act up.

The young man wouldn’t deny being nervous about showering with her as he left the shower to run for a couple minutes. After all, he was only fourteen Years old, and the only woman he’d ever showered with before was his mother–which hadn’t happened since he was prolly four or five. Not only that, but he’d never showered with anyone he’d found attractive, whether they were his age, younger, or older.

Once there was steam rolling out the open shower door, he moved to help her straighten and get undressed so they could walk into it. Aerin didn’t really need any help with getting her shirt and sports bra off, and he couldn’t help actually glancing down at her chest. He’d be lying, if he’d said it wasn’t ample enough to really enjoy, and he supposed that was just one thing his surrogate uncle loved about her. The chuckle she let out, though, made him jerk his gaze back up to her face, and he couldn’t help blushing furiously.

“I know they’re there and kinda hard to miss, but that doesn’t mean they need to or wanna be stared at,” she told him, a knowing gleam in her eyes.

“Sorry, I can’t help it,” the teenager said, his face Beet-red. “Only woman I’ve ever showered with was my mom, and that hasn’t happened in Years.”

“Hey, ya ain’t gotta do this, if ya really don’t wanna.” Aerin gently grabbed his chin and made him look at her. “Rob wasn’t kidding when he said I _can_ do it on my own–it just ain’t as easy that way.”

“I’m not gonna make ya do that, even if I _am_ nervous,” he told her. “That’s just not the gentlemanly thing to do.”

“Clearly, _someone’s_ raising ya right, kiddo,” the young woman chuckled, letting him help her into the shower. “Can’t tell if it’s your mom or dad yet, but someone is.”

“I think it’s pretty even between them,” Vallon laughed, turning her so that her back faced the handheld showerhead so it’d spray straight onto the affected area.

 _“Ssssss,”_ she hissed, quick to wrap her arms around his waist.

“Too hot?” the teenager asked, worried he’d turned up the heat a lil too much.

“A lil, but I can take it,” Aerin answered. “The more heat, the better so it’ll go on and pop.”

Nodding, he simply held her against him for the moment to make sure she wouldn’t fall, part of him enjoying feeling her breasts pressing against him. He was a red-blooded male and fairly young, at that–it was simply Natural for him to react that way, especially with a woman he was attracted to. Still, he shoved the majority of his dirty Thoughts aside, ’cuz now wasn’t exactly the Time for those–or the _other_ reaction they’d cause.

After about twenty minutes, Vallon shifted slightly so he could see over her shoulder better as he mimicked what the Silver Fox’d shown him downstairs. He deftly ignored how shifting made her nipples poke him in the chest like they’d done when they’d first stepped into the shower, no doubt a reaction to the sudden Change in temperature. His focus was entirely on putting enough pressure on this giant zit to get it to pop without hurting her worse than he absolutely had to. Course, that was easier said than done, considering the way she tried to squirm away from his hands ’cuz the area was so irritated and sensitive.

The young woman yelped and let out a litany of Curses, her fist slamming into the tile that lined the wall beside them. He apologized profusely, to which he was answered by her telling him to just keep pressure on it, ’cuz the only other choice was hoping that laying on her back’d make it pop sooner rather than later. Nodding, he Returned that pressure to his thumbs, still trying to be careful as he watched the taut, angry flesh somehow bulge even more than it already was.

“Ya guys all right in here?”

Not even glancing up from his task, Vallon knew it was his dad who’d asked that. “Yeah, Dad–just trying to get this joker to pop now.”

“Well, Rob wanted me to come up and check on ya as much as I wanted to, myself,” the guitarist chuckled. “We could hear her cussing all the way downstairs, and she woke poor Zach up.”

“Tell Zach I said _sono spiacente,”_ the young woman whimpered, yelping again when the thumbs pressing on her plight Changed angles. “He’ll know what that translatesta–and Gods damn it!”

“I’ma leave ya to it, then,” CC said. “And you’ve my permission to bean him, if he starts making moves on ya.”

“Don’t need your permission since I’d do it, anywhore!” she retorted.

“Dad, get out before I bean _you_ for being a dirty old man!” the teenager laughed.

The guitarist let out another laugh of his own as he excused himself, leaving them in as much Peace as they could possibly find for the moment. Aerin couldn’t help another agonized groan, nor hitting the shower wall again, as his son kept applying that necessary pressure. Course, hitting the wall was better than digging her nails into this poor kid like she normally did to her boyfriend when he’d to help her with this part, so she’d hit the wall till she knocked it down, if she had to.

Vallon couldn’t help a surprised gasp when the giant zit he was pressing on somewhat literally exploded with almost no warning. It sent some kinda yellowish-white gunk that was also mixed with blood flying across the shower to splatter against the wall, which was no doubt caused by the force he was using to press on it. Now he understood why his surrogate uncle’d said it was messy, and doing it in the shower was his best bet.

“Keep squeezing it, kiddo,” the young woman groaned. “It’s gotta be drained as much as possible.”

“Ya sure, Aerin?” he asked. “I mean, I’ve never done this before, and it’s obviously painful for ya.”

“It’ll quit hurting as bad, the more it’s drained,” Aerin told him, nodding against his shoulder. “That, and as the heat keeps numbing it.”

“All right, all right,” the teenager acquiesced, reaching up to brush his hair outta his face so he could see. He was careful not to actually touch his face, if only ’cuz he didn’t want this gunk in his eyes.

 _“Ohhhh,_ Goddess,” she moaned, almost dancing in his arms as he pressed on it from the outer edges again. “Changing the angle you’re pressing on it from helps, by the way.”

“It does?” Vallon’s brows rose in surprise.

“Drains it from different spots,” the young woman told him. “Doing that’ll drain it almost completely and leave very lil to drain on its own.”

“Makes sense,” he mused, nodding as he repositioned his thumbs.

It wasn’t very long before he couldn’t really get anything else out, no matter how much pressure he put against the pads of his thumbs. Chuckling, Aerin told him that meant it was almost completely drained, and that it wouldn’t overwhelm any Band-Aids applied to the area as it drained that last lil bit on its own. Getting to that point was a good thing, though, ’cuz it’d allow it to start Healing, not to mention break the slight fever she knew she’d been running long before they ever got in the shower.

Vallon kept his grip on her till she straightened on her own a few minutes later, and he couldn’t help the reaction he had to feeling her against him. Since it wasn’t exactly imperative that he keep his attention focused on anything else, it wasn’t long till he was forced to cross his legs, his face heating up in embarrassment, not from the heat of the Water raining down over them. The young woman laughed as she straightened, grabbing the body wash she’d set in the shower floor before ever stepping in. She told him that she was a mistress at tuning certain things out, if he really felt the need to take care of his _problem_ before they got out. Her bigger deal was that he not try anything with her, if only ’cuz she was an adult and he was still a minor.

The teenager was mortified that she knew about his plight, which earned him a bit of a hard look as she worked up a good lather with her body sponge. Aerin made no bones about how she’d have to be deaf, dumb, blind, and dead _not_ to’ve felt his arousal against her. But even as she turned her back so she could start soaping up–and give him as much privacy as possible–she said that she originally wasn’t gonna call him out on it.

Biting his lip, he debated his options for a few moments as he heard her start humming softly, a bit uncomfortable with one of those options. Watching her bend over to scrub herself from the waist down, especially her crotch, had him quickly getting over that embarrassment, though. His eyes widened as he watched her for a few moments, said eyes locking on her rosy nipples when she turned to face him, her own closed. Only then did he turn his own back and take himself in hand, trying to bite back a pleasured whimper as he let what he’d seen play across his mind’s eye.

The young woman bit back even the softest chuckle as she heard that whimper, her eyes still closed as she took care with scrubbing the irritated flesh at the top of her ass crack. Nothing could get her to admit that hearing it Invoked a similar innate response in her, which she was quick to stomp down for the moment. It wasn’t like her man was available to help her with that particular issue, and she just didn’t feel comfortable using her toys with witnesses. Course, that was only when said toys were available to her–which they weren’t, considering she’d left them at home in Nashville when she’d joined the tour. Why should she bring them with her when she’d an actual flesh-and-blood penis that pleasured her just as well and she knew she wouldn’t have used them, whether on the bus or in a hotel?

 _“So, you wanna talk about the pain… Talk to me, please explain_ – _maybe I know what you’re goin’ through…”_ she sang as she finally stepped outta the shower, a bit of a devious grin on her face.

The teenager gasped at the sudden blast of cold Air that hit him in the back from across the shower, making him momentarily tighten his grip on himself.

 _“You got so much pain to hide_ – _ya keep it locked up deep inside, in a room no one gets to…”_ Aerin managed to find a couple towels for herself as she continued. _“I can’t feel the way ya feel_ – _maybe I, I’ve got those same scars…same scarsta Heal…”_

He shivered as her voice started getting in his head, not realizing she’d meant for that to happen when she’d started singing.

 _“You’ve got to understand, I want to be the only man to…ever touch you baby, to ever…”_ The young woman smirked as she started actually drying her body off once her hair was wrapped up turban-style.

Vallon bit back another whimper at the mental image that that particular lyric Invoked, his own hand still hard at work on himself.

 _“I’ll be there, should the Sun go down, lift you up to a higher ground_ – _lemme in, lemme be the one… I’ll be there, shouldja fall from Grace… Wipe those tear drops from your face_ – _I see no more damage done… Baby, baby, I just_ – _let me…be the one…”_

CC couldn’t help a chuckle as he came up to check on the pair again, now that all the Cursing and thumping’d long since stopped, Zach behind him to actually bandage the remaining wound in his dad’s stead. He knew she saw him when the slight smirk on her face grew into a full-on grin, and he gestured for her to continue. Being a bit of a Siren was just one of many things that could be said about her, and he’d he a feeling he knew why she was putting that particular talent to use now, even if he _didn’t_ recognize the song.

 _“I wanna be the one to shelter you, should the Rains come down_ – _never let you drown, I’d pull ya through…”_ Aerin sang, wrapping that second towel around herself like this wasn’t the first Time the guitarist was seeing her nekkid.

The younger man leaning against the wall behind him chuckled under his breath, deftly ignoring the nudity of his dad’s girlfriend as she continued.

 _“I want to hear you when you scream, be your prince when you Dream, hold you close when you cry… I said I wanna feel your Love, your Hate_ – _should you be lost, I’ll bear your cross of pain! Love seal your Fate…”_

The soft whimpers from the shower were just barely audible over the running Water, and judging by their almost desperate Sound, she’d a feeling the teenager was getting close.

 _“I Comfort you in fits of Rage, I’ll be the book_ – _you can turn the page… I still love ya, baby…I still…”_

At this point, even the guitarist was fighting to hold back his laughter, and the grin on her face as she leaned back against the counter and repeated the chorus wasn’t helping him. He wasn’t surprised that the younger man shook his head and pushed himself away from the wall, if only ’cuz they heard his dad calling him from downstairs. From the sound of what he heard over the running shower and this young minx’s gorgeous voice, he was asking if they’d somehow managed to die of steam exposure or something.

 _“I gotta touch you_ – _I see no more damage done… Oh, sweet child, you gotta let me…”_

CC’d to excuse himself to his bedroom so he could flop across his bed and bury his face in one of his pillows, unable to stand it any longer. His ribs were starting to hurt just from seeing her devious expression, but when combined with his son’s desperate whimpers from the shower–well, he suspected that any other man on the Planet wouldn’t have been able to help laughing.

By the Time she was ready to dive into the final chorus, Aerin somehow made out the Sound of Zach helping his dad into the master suite. No doubt her poor Silver Fox was worried that she’d slipped and fallen, thus taking Vallon down with her and knocking the poor kid out or something. His rounding the corner into the lil hallway that connected the master bedroom to its closet, then to the slightly longer hallway that led into the bathroom with a worried look on his face only confirmed that. When he spotted her leaning against the counter, his brows rose in surprise, but she was quick to hold up a hand to Silence whatever he was about to say.

Rob was more than a bit surprised when she launched into a chorus he knew well right after she held up her hand, and that was when another Sound hit his ears. He’d to bite his wrist to bite back his own laughter as he leaned back against the counter behind him, a soft cry erupting from the bathroom. Judging by the tone of it, he was pretty sure his friend’s poor son’d been a lil more–ahem, affected by showering with someone of the opposite gender than he’d anticipated when he made his offer to help out.

 _“I’ll be Calm in fits of Rage, hold you close in Times of pain_ – _I see more damage done… Baby, baby, you got to let me be the one,”_ the young woman sang, her voice turning a bit breathy on that last line.

He almost started clapping, but he didn’t wanna break the spell she’d no doubt been trying to weave, as it were. Even Zach seemed to be fighting laughter, the guitarist practically dying with it where he’d all but dove across his bed to bury his face and muffle it. If there was one talent this woman he loved so much had, it was using her mouth in ways most folks wouldn’t expect like this. She might not be able to sleep with the boy without breaking at least a few laws and even more moral codes, but no one ever said she couldn’t put her voiceta work on him in a way that’d help him.

A couple minutes later, they heard the shower finally turn off, Aerin moving to hand the boy a towel as he stepped out. She made a quick hand gesture to shoo them off with the hand Vallon couldn’t see, no doubt wanting to save him as much embarrassment as possible. But that was another one of those things he loved about her–she was such a caring woman, even to those she barely knew.

Once the teenager’d dried off and gotten himself dressed again, the pair finally came outta the bathroom, the young woman still wrapped up in those towels. Said teenager’s face damn near turned purple the second he spotted the three guys on his dad’s bed, said dad erupting into more gut-splitting laughter while the other two simply grinned at him. He’d already been mortified enough that the young woman’d known what reaction he had–now he was even more mortified than before.

“Found out why I tend to call her my lil Siren, huh?” Rob chuckled, gladly opening his arms for the woman in question.

“Huh?” Vallon cocked his head in confusion like a curious puppy.

“He’s talking about the effect my singing can often have on folks, especially guys,” she laughed. “Ever heard of the Sirens outta Greek Mythology?”

“I’ve heard of Mermaids, but not Sirens,” the teenager said, his face and neck still bright red. “I’d think they’re the same thing, though.”

“Nope, there’s a difference,” Aerin told him. “When it comesta Merfolk, legends abound Worldwide about these near-mortal beings, who lived mainly under Water in a Faerie-like Paradise. They occasionally came ashore disguised as humans through the use of a magickal garment–such as a veil, cap, scarf, or sometimes a Seal skin–such as the legends of Selkies. Capturing such a garment gave Control over a Merperson.”

He looked absolutely enthralled as he moved to settle in the arm chair near CC’s balcony door.

“In the case of Mermaids, specifically… Classical Mythology often depicted Mermaids seated on rocks, combing their long hair–they were voluptuously human above the waist with the lower body of a Fish. In Worldwide legends, their personalities vary from helpful to malevolent,” the young woman continued.

“That’s pretty much what I’ve always heard about Mermaids,” Vallon said, nodding.

“Mermen’re the male equivalent of Mermaids, also called Tritons,” she continued. “Unlike Mermaids, Mermen were said to be very unattractive.”

The teenager scrunched his nose as much as all three of the grown men did.

“Sirens’re not only from Greece and Italy, but also technically classified as a type of Deity, rather than a true Mythological Creature.” Aerin paused for a moment to let the entire quartet absorb and process that. “They’re technically Sea Nymphs, whose magickal songs Enchanted sailors and lured ’em off course–Odysseus’d himself strapped to the mast of his ship so he couldn’t respond to their Music.”

“Really? he asked, looking surprised.

“According to legend and other written texts,” the young woman chuckled. “The Sirens were venerated on the Southwest Coast of Italy, where they were known by the names Ligea, Harmony, Leucothea–or White–and Parthenope–or Virgin Face.”

“I’d trust her when she gets into something like this, kiddo,” Rob spoke up. “She’s sources even I wouldn’t have thought of that tell all about it. But I still call her my Siren–not ’cuz she leads me to a Watery grave or anything, but ’cuz she can definitely Enchant me and lead me astray when she feels like it.”

He couldn’t help a laugh as she shot him a dirty look in lieu of elbowing him like she normally woulda for such a comment. Both of them knew damn good and well she really could do that, even when he wasn’t thinking dirty to start with. The woman who’d ensnared his heart didn’t truly have to talk dirty to get him riled up–all she’d to do was start singing, and they could have a _Good Love_ kinda Night.

Knowing it’d to be done sooner or later and wanting to End the poor boy’s torment, though, the Silver Fox was quick to turn his attention to getting the remaining wound left on her back bandaged. Making her stretch out across the foot of CC’s bed, he was gentle about unwrapping the towel from her torso, which she’d spun around so it appeared to be tucked into itself at her back. Even the guitarist couldn’t help wanting to get a good look at the aftermath, which wasn’t nearly as disgusting as seeing the actual boil before it was popped. All that really remained didn’t look much different than any other scabless wound, the flesh pink at the edges.

Taking care to be gentle, Rob took the Band-Aid his own son handed him and got it ripped open so he could peel back the paper stuck to the adhesive the way she’d taught him. He kept his middle finger pressed to the dead Center of the pad on the side that wouldn’t actually touch the wound. That finger allowed him to feel the remaining wound through it so he’d know when it was Centered, which was when he spread the first adhesive side up to her lower back so it’d stick.

Aerin held still, even as he spread her crack slightly to spread the other adhesive side down it, knowing she was gonna at least groan when she got ready to rip this thing off. That was the one part of having what she considered an abnormal amount of body hair for a woman that she hated–she couldn’t rip a Band-Aid off from anywhere without ripping out an ungodly amount of hair. But it was certainly better than having the remaining gunk soak into her clothes as it drained, which was what kept her from complaining about this part. She’d rather cause herself a lil more pain than have a nasty messta clean up later, and she kept that in mind as she thanked her boyfriend. Said Silver Fox chuckled as he folded the towel back over her and held it in place so she could push herself up without it dropping, then gave her a quick kiss.

Sending her off to grab her clothes outta his guitarist’s bathroom and get dressed, Rob was just glad that–painful though it was for her–the young woman’s problem was a lot easier to fix. That boil might hurt like hell till it popped when it cropped up, and it might be a Lifelong recurrent thing, but at least it technically didn’t require surgery. Not only that, but as long as it was kept clean and she could avoid slouching, it’d Heal up in just a couple Days–maybe a week at most–and wouldn’t crop up again for a while. It was certainly a lot quicker than he’d Heal from any kinda surgery, even having his Wisdom teeth removed again like he’d gone through when he was thirty-five.

All they could really do now was just be there for each other–mostly Aerin being there for him–and plot out their next move carefully.


	28. Twenty-Seven

Only a couple Days after it’d been popped, the remains of that boil right above Aerin’s rump was almost completely Healed. All she was really having to do to take care of it at this point was peel off the dead skin that surrounded it with tweezers so she wouldn’t be tempted to scratch it. Her boyfriend wasn’t particularly fond of that idea, but since she refused to cut her nails and he knew she’d only wind up scratching till she’d clawed another open wound in that spot, he didn’t try to argue with her.

The afternoon two Days after it’d been popped, she and said Silver Fox were stretched out on the couch in CC’s den for a nap. Even though he was on his right side, he was propped up enough to keep his neck at an angle that wouldn’t make it act up later, his right arm under his head. His left arm was curled up in front of his chest, almost like he was tempted to reach down and touch that still-Healing incision, but still didn’t dare. At least it was actually Healing, and he could tolerate the pain without taking anything for it till he was actually ready to go to bed for the Night. Only taking his Vicodin then kept him from overdosing on it, or possibly winding up strung out as a result of being on it for too long.

Since she knew she couldn’t snuggle back against him so he was spooning her due that that incision, the young woman was stretched out in front of him, but much further down. As long as this particular couch was before it hit its corner, there was plenty of room for them to do that, even if she wound up partially curled around said corner. They still got to cuddle with each other as much as possible, but at least using her man’s hip as a pillow kept her from accidentally hurting him while they were asleep.

Neither one heard the doorbell ring, young Vallon being the only one awake since his dad was out running a couple errands and those two were asleep. Wary as he made his way to the front door, he held the young woman’s bowie knife behind his back as the other reached up to pet the head of the Ball Python draped across his shoulders. He didn’t recognize the pair he saw when he opened the front door–a Raven-haired man prolly in his thirties and a ginger woman who appeared roughly the same age. Part of him almost wanted to slam the door in their faces or scream for one of the sleeping pair, but he decided against that pretty quickly.

“Hey, there–Vallon, right?” the man asked.

His eyes widened, his hidden hand gripping the knife he held tighter. “How’dja know my name?” he countered.

“I think we’re in the right place, Ash,” the woman chuckled. “That is, if a certain Rob and Aerin’ve been here recently.”

Vallon was quick to realize these two must know the sleeping pair and relaxed, but only marginally. “They’re napping right now, but I can get them up. Who’re you?”

“Her best friends, Ashley and Aidan,” she chuckled.

“Just stick with Ash, though, kiddo,” he told him. “Everybody else, including those two, do.”

Nodding, the teenager stepped back and opened the front door a lil wider so they could actually enter the house. The pair Returned the nod as they stepped into the foyer, waiting patiently as he closed and locked the door behind them since they didn’t know where to start looking for their friends. Gesturing for them to follow him, he didn’t bother trying to hide the knife in his hand–which both recognized–as he headed for the den where the napping couple lay.

Kneeling down so he could gently shake Aerin’s shoulder, he laid her knife down on the coffee table next to the scabbard it’d been in before he grabbed it. But before he could actually shake her shoulder, the man who’d told him to call him Ash made a soft Sound to get his attention. Looking up at them, he saw that he and Aidan both were shaking their heads, a bit of a horrified look on their faces.

“I wouldn’t wake her up just yet, kiddo,” he said, gesturing to his neck.

“What–why not?” Vallon asked, careful to keep his volume down.

“’Cuz I don’t exactly feel like being turned into a Cat Tree right now,” the man chuckled.

“Wake her right now, and you’ll see a side of her not even Rob’s seen,” Aidan agreed with a knowing smirk.

The teenager didn’t get a chanceta turn back to the young woman before he heard a gasp, then felt the couch cushion move rather quickly.

“Ow, fuck!” Rob snapped, being jostled so suddenly sending pain streaking across his incision. “Sweetheart, what the fuck?”

All they heard was a _thump!_ as the young woman fell over the back of the couch and landed on the hardwood behind it.

“I tried to warn him, man,” Ash chuckled, his friend making a beeline around the couch to quite literally climb his back.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” the Silver Fox managed with a chuckle of his own as he pushed himself upright. “I was wondering if y’all were gonna come out here after what happened.”

“We figured we’d give ya about a week to start recovering unless somebody called and told us we needed to get out here sooner,” the ginger said, moving to rub her friend’s back Soothingly.

“Makes sense,” he mused, nodding. “Now, somebody wanna explain to me why my girlfriend’s climbing Ash like a Tree?”

“’Cuz Vallon needsta go put his Snake up and make sure it won’t get out,” the younger bassist laughed, grabbing the backs of Aerin’s thighsta support her better. “Otherwise, I’m afraid I’ma _remain_ a Tree for hell-only-knows how long.”

Said young woman didn’t even whimper as she stared at the monstrosity around his neck, her arms locked around her friend’s almost tight enough to choke him.

“Fuck, she’s scared of Snakes, ain’t she?” Rob asked as he managed to get up.

“Absolutely petrified,” Aidan laughed. “Honestly, I’d say she’s a phobia to ’em more so than just a Fear of ’em.”

Vallon’s eyes widened almost as much as the young woman’s as he jumped up, now realizing why Ash’d tried to stop him from waking her up just yet. He reached up to make sure the Snake in question didn’t fall off his shoulders as he rose, saying that it wouldn’t get outta its terrarium upstairs in his room as he headed for the front hall. Even still, the younger bassist turned so he could take a backward step into the kitchen to put that much more distance between his friend and the thing currently provoking her Terror. He could feel her heart racing so fast, it might as well’ve simply been fluttering against his back.

“Sweetheart, it’s all right,” the Silver Fox chuckled as he gently grabbed her face in both hands. “He’s gone to put it up so it won’t be anywhere near ya.”

“Don’t like Snakes,” Aerin managed to whimper. “I’ll kill it, if it gets anywhere near me.”

“Vallon’s putting it back in its cage upstairs,” he assured her. “And now that he knows you’re scared of Snakes, he’s not gonna bring it out aroundja again.”

The young woman could only whimper again as he gently rubbed her cheeks with his thumbs.

“C’mon, let Ash putcha down,” Rob said. “You’re gonna choke him out, if ya don’t.”

The younger bassist mocked the Sound of being strangled, which managed to break through the Fog Clouding her brain. “Can’t…breave!”

Gasping and hurriedly apologizing, she loosened her grip on her friend’s neck, her legs unwrapping from around his waist so she could catch herself when she slid down. Ash laughed as he turned to face her, grabbing her for an actual hug as he assured her that he was fine since he wasn’t even feeling lightheaded. He knew about her phobia to Snakes and flying both, so he wasn’t gonna hold her reaction against her, even if he _did_ think it was a lil silly.

That made her stick her tongue out at him like a petulant child and remind him that he screamed like a girl whenever he saw a Spider as the teenager Returned from putting his Snake back in its home. Mocking offense, even though he knew it was true, the younger bassist swore he’d only screamed like that at the sight of a Spider once, and only ’cuz it was huge.

“The damn thing was the size of a dinner plate, I tell ya!” he insisted. “I think you’d scream at that, too!”

“It was the size of a Black Widow, ya nut,” Aerin retorted. “And even though I’m terrified of Spiders, too, I’m _still_ the one ya holler for when ya see a fuckin’ Spider in the house.”

“You’re such a meanie,” Ash sulked, crossing his arms as he pouted at her.

“Ya know that doesn’t work on me,” the young woman snickered. “Andja love me, ’cuz I’m the baby sister ya never had growing up.”

“All right, girl–enough torturing my man,” Aidan finally laughed. “I’m more of a mind to find out how _yours_ is doing.”

“Eh, decently enough, all things considered,” Rob told her, wincing as he chuckled. “Can’t wait for this thing to Heal enough for me to laugh without it hurting, though.”

“Speaking of, isn’t it about Time for it to be cleaned and rebandaged again?” the teenager asked.

“Yeah, it _is_ about that Time,” he answered, nodding. “Which’ll kill two Birds with one Stone since I’m pretty sure at least Aidan’s curious.”

The ginger didn’t even try to deny his words, although the man she was hugging looked a bit uncertain about actually seeing the stitched incision. The Silver Fox laughed and told him he didn’t have to watch, if he really didn’t wanna as he settled on one of the bar stools at the End of the island closest to the den. He knew that not everyone could handle such a sight, grinning as he told him about how CC’d hauled ass for the foyer so he could show Zach to the upstairs guest room instead of watching.

Ash couldn’t help a laugh at the Thought of the guitarist running out like he was wired on coke again just so he wouldn’t have to see such a thing. It was too funny, trying to imagine a Whirlwind of now Dark-blonde hair leaving just about any Spaceta avoid seeing something he thought was gross. But the younger bassist didn’t exactly have that problem, even though he’d admit such a thing wasn’t his favorite sight.

Vallon Returned from the downstairs guest room with the supplies they’d been using to clean it, his surrogate uncle finally rolling his waistband down. Only then did he unbutton the shirt he was wearing so his torso was on full display, which revealed the rectangular piece of gauze taped to his lower belly. Said gauze was a bit stained from what lil fluid was draining from the incision as it Healed, but Aerin assured them that was a good thing. If it retained all that fluid, that’d slow down the Healing process and very possibly cause it to get infected, which definitely wouldn’t be a good thing.

“It almost looks like a C-section incision,” Aidan chuckled once the teenager’d washed his hands and pulled off the makeshift bandage.

“Not too sure where you’d get _that_ comparison from since it’s not like I can give Birth,” the Silver Fox said with a chuckle of his own.

“My sister’d to have a C-section one Time,” she explained. “They made the incision pretty low on her abdomen almost like this one.”

 _“Ahhhh,_ I gotcha now.” Rob nodded as he widened his knees a bit for his surrogate nephew.

“Ready when you are, Uncle Rob,” the teenager said, poised with a Cotton ball soaked in Saltwater.

“Let’s just get it over with,” he told him, taking a deep breath.

Nodding, Vallon made sure to keep his touch gentle as he started dabbing at it, but that still didn’t stop him from groaning.

“Fuck!” The Silver Fox grabbed the edge of the counter next to him. “Never again! Note to Self–write up a living will or something that says if I need surgery again, just lemme die!”

Nobody in the room was immune to a bout of laughter when he said that, Aerin moving to wrap her arms around his neck from behind and give him a hand to squeeze. She was quick to further distract him from his pain by gently nuzzling his jaw right about where his head met his neck, knowing that was one of his hot spots. They might not be able to go at it right now, but at least it allowed him to turn his attention to something else so he could endure the pain a lil easier.

With his incision cleaned and bandaged a couple minutes later, Rob was finally able to straighten so that he wasn’t pretty much slouching on his tailbone. He wouldn’t deny that he was getting needy, considering that he’d been in too much pain for those few Days leading up to being hauled off to the ER to even think about sex, but even _he_ knew that wasn’t a smart idea right now. Even if his surgeon _hadn’t_ put the kibosh on even jerking off for at least the first couple weeks, he’d have to be crazy to think attempting a romp with a Healing incision so low on his abdomen was a smart idea.

As Vallon was cleaning up the mess from cleaning and bandaging it, though, everybody heard a key in the front door. It wasn’t hard to figure out that CC was back from whatever errands he was running this Morn, which none of them were surprised by. However, none of them expected to hear an irate shriek that’d the man holding his phone a full arm’s length out from himself and turning down the volume, too.

 _“You did_ what!? _Bruce Anthony Johanesson!”_ a feminine voice screeched from the other End of the line, which they all heard clearly since he’d the person on speaker.

“Shannon, take a fuckin’ chill pill and lemme finish explaining,” CC snapped, the look on his face uncharacteristic for his relatively happy-go-lucky Self.

 _“There’s nothing_ to _explain!”_ the woman–apparently someone named Shannon–retorted. _“Ya let our_ minor son _shower with a woman nearly twice his age!”_

“Oh, boy,” Rob groaned under his breath, face-palming before reaching to button his shirt.

“And it was completely innocent,” the guitarist growled, which sounded funny, considering his voice was easily as high-pitched as Ash’s.

 _“There’s absolutely nothing innocent about letting a child shower with someone twice their age, if that person’s not one of their parents!”_ Shannon insisted.

Aerin let out a literal growl as she reached out and snatched his phone from him, which took even CC by surprise. “I’ve a pretty good idea of who this is, and I’ma say this once, so ya better put your listening ears on _now.”_

Even Vallon looked surprised, but everybody in the room intelligently kept their mouths shut.

“I’d like to think I’ve sense enough not to mess with someone underage, no matter _whose_ child they are,” the young woman snapped. “There’s a big difference between dating someone old enough to be my dad and messing with a barely-pubescent boy who prolly doesn’t even truly know what he likes in a woman yet.”

 _“So,_ you’re _the one who was showering with my son!”_ Shannon screeched.

“Yeah, ’cuz lemme tell ya, having a boil in a place that ain’t easy to reach ain’t fuckin’ fun, lady,” she dead-panned.

That shut the woman on the other End of the line up real quick.

“Now, if you’re quite done ripping CC a new one over something that really _was_ completely innocent, I think we’re done here,” Aerin said. “Oh, and by the way–don’t _ever_ accuse someone of something like that without the full story again. Ya never know when you’re making such an accusation against someone who once _was_ the teenager being fucked by an adult old enough to know better.”

Without giving her a chanceta say anything else, the young woman promptly hung up on the boy’s mother as she’d what some folks’d call a _mic-drop_ moment. Every jaw in the room–including that of the teenager in question–was on the floor as she moved to pour herself a glass of Pepsi before turning to head outside. However, she ignored the shocked look of even her boyfriend, ’cuz if she didn’t Ground and Center herself soon, there was gonna be hell to pay.

Even Ash was shocked shitless as one of the three sets of French doors leading from the den to the back yard slammed hard enough to rattle the windows moments later. Never once since he’d met her over two Years ago had Aerin ever so much as hinted at such a thing, and now he couldn’t help wondering if what she was referring to had been consensual or not. If it wasn’t, it’d certainly explain a few things, as far as her being fucked-up in the head and having an at-Times questionable morality went. But while a part of him–and no doubt her boyfriend–wanted to ask about it, there was another part that didn’t. She was obviously already upset enough at being accused of such a thing, and no doubt being startled by Vallon’s pet didn’t help that.

CC was the one to finally speak up as he asked if _any_ of the present adults’d ever known that about the young woman. Part of him wasn’t surprised when he got a negative response from all of them, but another one _was_ a bit surprised. He figured that if she’d shared something like that with anyone, it woulda been her boyfriend–and if not him, then one of her best friends.

No one could really think of anything to say as they peeked out the back windows, where they saw Aerin standing out in the grass with her feet planted shoulder-width apart. Rob was the only one who recognized the stance she’d taken, even before she raised her arms up over her head, and warned the others against messing with her just yet. He could already tell she was Grounding and Centering herself, which he explained to the others since they’d never heard of it. Doing that was prolly the best thing she _could_ do for a lil bit, and he advised that it was best to just give her a few minutesta herself.

But even as he gave that advisory due to how well he knew his girlfriend and her Spiritual practices, the Silver Fox’s expression shifted to a determined one as he Silently vowed to ask her about what she’d said.


	29. Twenty-Eight

Almost as soon as she walked back into the house, Aerin was engulfed by a pair of arms and pulled flush against the torso they were connected to. Only catching the notes of Chocolate, Amber, and red peppercorn that she knew wafted around her boyfriend almost constantly told her who’d grabbed her for a Bear-hug since she hadn’t actually seen the person before they did. But even though she sighed contently and let her arms drape around his hipsta avoid irritating his incision, she knew she was about to have some serious explaining to do. She’d never opened her big mouth as royally as she had before she walked outside, and she knew that if he didn’t ask, Ash or Aidan were likely to.

Rob buried his face in his girlfriend’s hair, taking a few momentsta just enjoy the fruity scent that lingered there long after she’d showered. The scent of her favorite perfume mingled with it beautifully, both complimenting the scents she loved to catch from his own person. He really didn’t wanna upset her again, but he knew somebody’d to ask eventually as he finally pulled back slightly and steered her over to the couch. CC already sat on one End, his son and her friends settled on the floor in front of it, as he gently pushed her down before carefully lowering himself with a slight grimace.

“Sweetheart, I _hate_ having to, but I gotta ask,” the Silver Fox said. “Whatcha were saying before–”

“If you’re about to ask was I raped by the guy I was talking about, the answer’s no–it was consensual,” Aerin gently interrupted him. “I was raped by a different guy that was a lil under a Year older than me _after_ the guy I was talking about earlier and I split up.”

“I’ll ask about _that_ some other Time,” he managed to chuckle. “If you’re willing to talk about it, that is.”

“Not much to tell, other than it wasn’t violent in the sense that he beat me stupid before he did it like most rapes are,” the young woman said with a shrug. “But it was still the textbook definition of the act.”

“I’m sure it _still_ left its mark on ya as much as that first guy did, though.” This came from CC, who actually looked just as concerned as everyone else.

“That first guy was my very first ex,” she told them. “I was fifteen, he was twenty-one.”

None of them could help their eyes widening a bit.

“Yeah, I’m the one who started it–I was being a rebellious lil shit, after all,” Aerin continued. “But _he_ was old enough to know right from wrong, and that no matter how pushy a teenager got, he shoulda said no.”

“But he didn’t,” Ash said. “Jesus, even _I’m_ not that stupid–or horny.”

“I’m sure all of us but Vallon know that,” the young woman chuckled, said teenager cocking a brow.

“Long story short, kid, I got called the _Purdy Perv_ for a reason,” he laughed. “Granted, if even half the stories about him’re true, Gene Simmons make me, Rob, and your dad all combined look like an altar boy.”

“Okay, shut up and leave it at that,” Vallon chuckled. “I don’t need or wanna know what my dad and the guy that might as well be my uncle’ve done over the Years.”

The entire room momentarily cracked up at that before turning their attention back to the topic at hand.

“By the Time that idiot and I broke up, I was seventeen and he was twenty-three,” she continued. “And that was how I wound up with the borderline psycho-stalker I’ve told Rob and Ash about.”

“Ouch.” The lone blonde man winced. “Doesn’t sound like much of a good Time to me.”

Shrugging, Aerin admitted that the last Time she’d ever heard from him, he’d said that he hoped she never found Love and died alone. His reason for saying that was simply ’cuz she’d dumped him, but she’d her reasons for doing so and he just couldn’t handle it. The fact that he was too much of a _Mama’s_ and _Daddy’s boy_ to really put himself out there–and how much of a nerdy geek he was on top of it–didn’t help him, but he was one of those types that was never gonna listen to anyone on that topic.

For a few Years, she’d honestly thought he was right in thinking that she was gonna die alone and Loveless, then eventually came to a realization. The only reason his words seemed to be even a mild Curse was ’cuz _she_ was the one giving them their Power by even remotely believing them. Once she’d stopped believing them–and caring about finding Love altogether–it’d pretty much fallen into her lap without warning.

But one of the things she’d also realized about the Time she met Rob was that that was where her Love of older guys’d started. That guy in particular, though, was the one who’d taught her that a guy ten Years or less older than her just wouldn’t cut it. He’d been roughly six Years older than her, and he’d been far more immature than all of Poison, Mötley Crüe, and even Black Veil Brides combined at their worst. While her current boyfriend might make her feel like his mother from Time to Time, it was generally only when he wasn’t feeling good, like now as he recovered from his surgery.

“This guy made me feel more like his mother than his girlfriend _constantly,”_ the young woman explained. “If I wasn’t having to jump his case about one thing, it was another. ’Bout the only thing he really had on me was that he was old enough to buy cigarettes and alcohol, but I wasn’t.”

“Well, that’s certainly no way to treat a girlfriend,” Ash dead-panned. “Shit, even I’m smarter than that, even at my worst.”

“I concur,” the ginger said with a Sage nod.

“Let’s just say that when it came to sex with him, I’d more fun with inanimate objects or dirty Dreams and leave it at that before I get myself in trouble for saying such shit in front of a minor,” Aerin chuckled.

“Ya gotta be kidding me!” the guitarist laughed. “Andja were with him for _how_ long?”

“Twenty months, all said and done,” she answered. “Eighteen the first Time, two the second. He’s the guy that made me realize I don’t fall in Love with the same guy twice and that giving second chances is a really bad idea.”

“Note to Self–don’t _ever_ fuck up that royally, or I’ma lose the best thing that ever happened to me,” the Silver Fox said.

“Damn right, ya will,” Aerin told him. “Hence why I say that if you’re trying, I’m staying–and the same appliesta myself.”

No one could really argue with that sentiment, even if they wanted to, nor could they help letting out an _awww_ as she snuggled against him when he pulled her against his side. Granted, that was rewarded by her sticking her tongue out at the entire group, who laughed as she curled up almost like a child. That just made the couple look even more like father and daughter than they normally did, but neither of them really gave a fuck what the others thought.

Rob took a deep breath that was released in a heavy sigh before he made her look up at him, one pair of Chocolate eyes staring into another. She could tell by the look on his face that he’d something he wanted to say, and that trying to push him prolly wasn’t the smartest of ideas. However, she got the feeling she already knew what was about to come outta his mouth and decided to just humor him.

“Sweetheart, since I haven’t done it already…” he started, cutting himself off with another sigh. “I wanted to apologize for the shit I putcha through those few Days.”

“I kinda figured,” Aerin chuckled, making his eyes widen. “Butcha don’t really have to.”

“You’re insane, if ya think that,” the Silver Fox argued gently.

“No, I’m not, ’cuz ya were already forgiven the second Rikki and Nikki gotcha up off that toilet and I saw what was wrong with ya,” she laughed. “If ya were in half as much pain leading up to that as ya were before they dosedja with the Fentanyl, I don’t blame ya for being an ornery ass.”

Rob took a few secondsta process that before bursting into laughter that woulda made his stomach hurt, even without a fresh incision in it. “I swear, you’re too good for me.”

“Nah, I’m just whatcha needed after a Lifetime of shit,” the young woman retorted with a grin.

Not wanting to get into a stupid argument even halfheartedly, he merely shut her up with a kiss that woulda led to far more, if he hadn’t been recovering from surgery. Feeling her push against his chest after a few moments was what finally made him End the kiss before it got a lil too heated, a minor in the room be damned. But he still couldn’t help the smile he gave her as he tilted his head forward to press their foreheads together, glad that he was still here to give it–and so much more–to her at all.

The Morn after Ash and Aidan’d arrived at his guitarist’s house, Rob’d felt the need to run an errand of his own while he could. His stomach was still a bit sore, but not so badly that he couldn’t get outta the house for a lil while since he wasn’t stupid enough to try driving just yet. Luckily, the younger bassist was more than willing to play chauffeur, considering he still knew the area pretty well since he’d lived here for so long.

After yesterday’s conversation wherein he’d learned such a shocking fact about his girlfriend, he’d done some serious thinking when he wasn’t socializing. Their conversation with Nikki and Courtney that Day a couple months ago’d already started putting ideas in his head, but he hadn’t Intended to use any of them–at least, not yet. But after having his guts fall out his ass with pretty much no warning as far as he was concerned, he’d come to a few realizations.

First and foremost, every Day that he woke up might very well be his last, and the fact that he was already far older than Aerin certainly didn’t help that. Secondly, she really _was_ the best thing that’d ever happened to him in so many different ways, it was hard to list them all. And most importantly of all was that since he could very well be off to join her beloved pappaw every Night that he went to bed, what he’d in mind to do was better done sooner, rather than later. He wouldn’t necessarily say he was gonna make an honest woman outta her, _per sé_ –she’d made her feelings on marriage quite clear after all. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t prove he was in it for the long haul and come pretty closeta that, considering what she’d said in front of witnesses.

To that End, the Silver Fox’d decided that he was gonna get what could very well become a handfasting set for them, if nothing else. He wanted Ash with him, both for moral support _and_ ’cuz he knew his girlfriend even better than he did, himself in some ways. If anybody could help him pick the perfect ring for her–whether it was a promise or engagement ring–it was gonna be one of her best friends. But as a guy, he wanted the opinion of another guy, which was why he hadn’t asked Aidan to accompany him this Morn. Well, that and ’cuz she didn’t know the Los Angeles area nearly as well since this was actually her first Time coming this far West.

“Ya sure ya wanna do this, Rob?” Ash glanced over at him as he put his rental in park, but didn’t kill the motor quite yet.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” He nodded as he looked over and unbuckled his seat belt. “She means more to me than I can possibly put into words.”

“Well, I meant that as much as do ya wanna do it _now?”_ the younger bassist chuckled.

“And the answer to that’s yeah, too,” Rob assured him.

“I can’t help being curious as to why,” he said, holding up a finger so he’d pause as he killed the motor at last and climbed out.

“’Cuz I came to a few different realizations yesterday,” the Silver Fox told him once he’d opened the passenger’s door to help him out.

Ash didn’t ask as he let him grab his hands, but it was written all over his face that he wanted to.

“One of those realizations was that every Day might just be my last,” he explained with a groan as he used those handsta pull himself up and outta the passenger’s seat.

“Well, that’s true for pretty much everyone,” the younger bassist pointed out, closing the door and locking the car.

“True, but with me being thirty Years older than her, we’re already not gonna get as much Time together as most couples,” Rob pointed out. “Why waste anymore of the Time we _do_ have together being indecisive?”

“Fair enough,” he agreed, nodding as they headed into the Jared’s they’d pulled up in front of.

“Afternoon, gentlemen,” a woman greeted them as soon as they walked in. “How can I help ya today?”

“Looking for a ring, Becki,” the Silver Fox answered after glancing down at her name tag. “Preferably something along the lines of a promise ring that can double as an _engagement_ ring.”

“Any particular reason why, if ya don’t mind my asking?” She looked curious.

Following her over to the case she turned toward, Rob was more than happy to explain that his Intended’s views on marriage were a bit complex. He thought he might be able to talk her into it, if given enough Time to wear her down lil by lil, but he didn’t wanna push his Luck too much. If he could at least give her something that’d prove he was in this for the long haul, he’d take what he could get since that was _one_ envelope he really didn’t wanna push.

Nodding as she walked behind the case so she could unlock it, Becki asked if he’d anything in particular in mind so she’d know exactly which caseta open. He was vehement in saying nothing with Diamonds unless they were Black Diamonds or something, which caught her a bit off-guard. She was no doubt used to women loving the Traditional White Diamond engagement ring that prolly damn near every guy bought.

“My girlfriend’s more than a lil _out-there,_ if ya will,” the Silver Fox chuckled. “She actually told me and a different friend of mine that she hates White Diamonds ’cuz she finds them cold and tasteless.”

“That’s definitely Aerin, all right,” Ash laughed. “Give her something with as much personality as her, or don’t give her anything at all.”

“Not necessarily a bad rule of thumb to have,” she said, her smile Returning. “Just not quite what I’m used to when guys come in for this kinda thing.”

“Oh, trust us–you’ll never get used to someone like Aerin,” the younger bassist said. “Every Time ya think you’ve her figured out, she throws ya another curve ball.”

“She likes keeping folks on their toes like that,” Rob agreed, moving in front of the case of rings that were most likely birthstone rings.

“Well, we’ve plenty of various Stones in all sortsa different settings,” Becki told him.

Leaning down to get a better look proved to be a bit of mistake, which was evident when he winced and gently grabbed his lower belly. “Shit, I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Are ya all right?” the woman asked, looking concerned.

“Oh, I’ll be fine as long as that tray’s brought up higher,” he assured her. “And no, I’m not looking to steal anything–I just had surgery a couple weeks ago, so bending down like that kinda hurts.”

Ash was quick to gently help him straighten and find a stance that was comfortable, but allowed him to see as she pulled out the first tray. Whether she believed him or not, he didn’t particularly care–he really could afford just about anything in this store, so trying to steal wouldn’t do anything but cause unnecessary trouble. Jail was the last place he wanted to be again, but he definitely didn’t wanna wind up there while still recovering from surgery when the slightest wrong move could rip him open again.

Carefully perusing the tray of feminine rings laid before him on the case’s glass top, Rob didn’t see one he thought was just _her_. They were all too gaudy, which meant she’d as soon put them in her jewelry box aside from special, formal occasions, or simply make good on her threat to make him eat them. Given that he didn’t feel like being force-fed Metal and Stones, nor having to fish them outta the toilet later if he didn’t just flush them, he put back the one he’d plucked out for a closer look and shook his head. There’d to be _something_ in this Blessed store, and if there wasn’t, he’d just take his business elsewhere–even online, if need be.

The sales associate carefully slipped that tray back into its case before pulling out another one, and he knew his younger equivalent could tell he was getting frustrated. He glanced over when he felt his hand on his back, which was when he mouthed to him not to get so worked up. It might take a bit, but he’d eventually find the perfect ring for the woman he loved, and prolly when he least expected it.

Sighing as he turned back around so he could peruse this second tray, the Silver Fox certainly hoped he was right about that. He wasn’t in the mood to be wasting Time since he was still sore, which already had him in a bit of a bad mood on its own. Then again, he was the one who’d insisted on doing this, both so he could get it over with _and_ so he could get outta CC’s house for a lil while before it drove him insane. He’d to remember that it was his own fault he was being driven a lil crazy right now, and that he could very well be dead instead of here to do this. It was then that one of the rings in front of him caught his attention, almost as if it’d a beacon shining from it or someone else’d Intentionally drawn his gaze to it.

“Oh, wow,” Ash breathed, his own eyes widened when he saw the one that’d caught his attention as he plucked it outta the tray. “Simple, but regal.”

“Totally her style,” he agreed with a chuckle as he brought it up for a closer inspection.

Designed to look like a tiara, there was a single, square-cut Amethyst in the dead Center just under what woulda been the Center of the tiara, if it was actually meant to be worn on one’s head. To either side of that Amethyst were a pair of round-cut black Stones, but he couldn’t tell if they were Black Diamonds or something else. Knowing the store they were in and its reputation for such a thing, they prolly _were_ Black Diamonds, but he doubted Aerin’d have a problem with them.

Turning the ring for a side view, the Silver Fox couldn’t help the slight smile that crossed his face as he took in what he’d thought were Pearlsta start with. What he was actually looking at were Opals, based on the Rainbow effect to their iridescent shimmer, which he knew damn good and well Pearls didn’t have. But that worked out since he knew his girlfriend thought the former Stone far too old-fashioned and wouldn’t wear them.

Those Opals spanned the circumference of the band to about where the tiara shape of the design stopped in what Rob’d have to call a _half-Infinity_ design. Even though they were only about the same size as that pair of suspected Black Diamonds, they were every bit as full of personality as his girlfriend. When combined with those Black Diamonds and that lone Amethyst, he wasn’t too sure he’d be able to do much better, but still fit within her tastes so she’d actually wear it. But even still, he couldn’t help what was on his mind as he turned his attention back to the woman before them.

“I’m kinda curious about whether it’s a matching wedding band or not,” he said, glancing back down at the ring he still held.

“Actually, it _does,”_ Becki told him, moving to the next case over. “We keep them in separate cases, ’cuz we’ve had a few folks who came in that wanted to do a mix-and-match kinda thing.”

“Makes senseta me,” the younger bassist mused, nodding.

“It’s designed to look like a mirror-image to the tiara design of the one you’re holding,” she said as she Returned with the wedding band in question.

“Looks like practically the same ring, just without all the Stones,” Rob said thoughtfully as he took it.

“Definitely Aerin’s style,” his friend agreed. “Like I said about the engagement ring, it’s simple, but regal.”

“And if she’s not those two things when she feels like it, I dunno _what_ she is,” he laughed, reaching down to cup his belly again. “Damn it, what’ve I told y’all fuckers about making me laugh right now?”

“Sorry, man,” Ash chuckled, quick to grab the rings so he wouldn’t drop and lose them. “I’ll letcha sock me for it once we’re outside and not at risk of busting any of these cases.”

“Better watch it, or I’ll holdja to that,” the Silver Fox warned him with a smirk.

“I almost asked if ya were father and son when ya first walked in,” Becki admitted with a chuckle of her own. “But I’ve never seen a father-son or mother-daughter pair who got along _this_ well.”

“Actually, my son and I _do_ usually get along this well, now that the brat’s grown,” he chuckled. “But said son looks like a clone of me when I was around thirty, so you’d know if he was the one with me.”

“Either way, I’m glad to see you’ve someone who knows your girlfriend as well as you do to help ya out today,” the sales associate laughed.

“Well, now I’ve another question for ya,” Rob admitted.

Nodding to let him know that he’d her full attention, she waited for him to continue with whatever else was currently on his mind. The Silver Fox wasn’t shy about asking whether this set’d a matching wedding band for a man or not, his reason behind that being a simple one. He figured he might as well get any and all pieces he was gonna get now, just so he wouldn’t have to try mixing-and-matching anything later. While they might have any matches in stock at the moment, that might not be true later on, and he saw no reason to cause himself unnecessary stress later.

Shaking her head, Becki hated to inform him that this set _didn’t_ have a matching masculine band, but she’d an idea. Even Ash was curious as she stepped back behind the case that housed all the wedding bands and crouched down. When she rose again, she held a different pair of rings in her hand, and their simplicity was just as striking as that of the set his older equivalent was still holding in his palm.

Designed to look like a Crown in their own right, these rings sported more or less the same _half-Infinity_ style that the more feminine set did. The tips of the Crown spanned roughly half the circumference of the band, the shortest ones being at the outer edges while the tallest was in the dead Center. One was obviously made outta either Sterling-Silver or Platinum, its twin being in what a lotta cheaper jewelers referred to as black-chrome instead.

“They’re both the masculine half of a couple’s set,” the sales associate told them. “The black one’s supposed to be paired with a Silver one, while the Silver male ring’s supposed to be paired with one that’s Rose-Gold.”

“This could actually work,” Rob mused as he took the Silver one from her.

“It really could, couldn’t it?” the younger bassist asked, looking thoughtful. “It’s just as simple as the ones you’re looking at for Aerin.”

“Well, I’m not much of a flashy guy,” he chuckled.

“I think I’ve seen pictures that say otherwise,” Ash laughed, gently socking his arm.

“That was for something totally different, ya ass!” the Silver Fox retorted. “Kinda _had_ to be flashy for _that_ shit, like it or not!”

 _“Ummm…”_ The poor woman in front of them looked more confused than a blind lesbian in a Fish market.

“Long story short, we’ve both been in various bands over the Years,” Rob told her. “Mine was pretty notorious for doing shit most guys’d never do back in the Day, and there’s way too much photographic evidenceta even try denying it.”

 _“Ahhhh,_ I gotcha.” Becki nodded as her smile Returned.

“Well, outside the band, I’m the furthest thing from flashy that there is,” he continued. “I like my clothing and jewelry as simple as possible, or I’d be wearing more than a dog-tag around my neck right now.”

“Then I’d say this is the perfect ring for _you,”_ she said, gesturing to the one he held in his left hand.

The Silver Fox couldn’t help nodding his agreement, saying that he wasn’t gonna walk outta this store today without them. He’d more than enough money to cover whatever the Ending total wound up being, so he wasn’t worried about any kinda financing. Besides, he could already tell these weren’t nearly as expensive as what he’d once bought for his ex-wife over thirty Years ago, and prices back then were a lot cheaper in their own right. No doubt that was due to this set not being covered in those cold, tasteless White Diamonds, which always made their settings more expensive than anything else.

Leaving Ash to peruse a bit more when he said he wanted to find something for his own girl, he headed off to actually make his purchase. Becki was more than glad to assist him with that, too, one of her co-workers coming over to take her place with his younger equivalent. No doubt they were still worried that one of them was gonna try to stuff something in their pocket and walk out with it, if they weren’t watched like Hawks.

By the Time he’d finished up his transaction, Rob saw the younger bassist heading over with a grin on his face. He took that as he’d found something he thought Aidan’d like, no matter how it was presented to her, and grabbed the small bag hiding his own purchase. Now he just had to figure out how to get it into the house and stashed away for the Time being since he wasn’t quite ready to use it. If he couldn’t have sex, he saw no reason to propose just yet since he was sure such a thing was gonna take a more Romantic turn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, folks–the Intent here's to use the set I picked out for Aerin in the original version of this story. And I mean the whole set, not the mix-and-match version I used last Time. Unfortunately, the set's since been taken down from the site that sells it as far as I know, so you'll have to go check the original version on my Wattpad account, if ya want a visual.  
> ~Firefly


	30. Twenty-Nine

_October, 2021_

_Los Angeles, California_

Exactly twenty-nine Days after his surgery, Rob’d gone in for his second post-op checkup with the surgeon who’d split him open this Time. The only reason he hadn’t gone in a Day earlier was ’cuz it was a Sun’s Day, and the man’s out-patient office hadn’t been open, so it’d to be postponed by a Day. But he didn’t particularly care either way, considering that he was still alive and even able to make the appointment, which was his bigger concern.

Ash and Aidan’d already flown back out to Nashville after staying for a week, so it was CC who played chauffeur for him. He hadn’t been cleared to drive again at his two-week appointment, so he didn’t wanna try driving to that four-week appointment just yet. Even though he felt like he coulda done it, he didn’t wanna take any chances or get himself in trouble with his surgeon over something stupid.

The Silver Fox’d been delighted when he’d been told he could have his stitches taken out right then and there, ’cuz they were driving him crazy. Aerin’d to keep his nails clipped almost to the quick, not to mention work with the guitarist to hide just about anything he could useta scratch with. She’d caught him even trying to use a guitar pick for that very purpose one Time, ’cuz the scab and dead skin around the very edges were so itchy, it was almost like having Chicken pox or something in just the one spot. Being told he could have these damn things removed was good in several different ways, one of which he decided to ask about.

“Since the kibosh was put on it before, am I to assume that means I’ve the green Light for even sex?” he asked, chuckling when his friend scrunched his nose.

“Jeez, man,” CC laughed. “Just ask that like I’m _not_ in the room with ya.”

“Oh, shut up,” Rob retorted. “I’ve a reason for asking that–and it goes beyond just wanting to get me some _in and out.”_

The surgeon couldn’t help a laugh of his own as he pulled out that last stitch so he could sit up. “You’ve Healed enough that I’m pretty sure that won’t be a problem,” he told him.

The Silver Fox couldn’t help heaving a sigh of relief.

“I’ma recommend thatcha not get _too_ crazy for another couple weeks, though,” he warned him. “Nothing like swinging from chandeliers or anything.”

“I rather like my head intact, so I don’t think I’d try that, even if I _hadn’t_ just had surgery a month ago!” he laughed. “But I get whatcha mean, either way.”

“So, why on Earth’re ya asking about such a thing, if it’s not just ’cuz you’re desperate?” the guitarist asked as he sat up to button his shirt.

“Well, I did some serious thinking after that conversation a couple weeks ago,” Rob admitted. “Came to a couple realizations and decided that if I’ma ever proposeta her, I might as well do it sooner, rather than later.”

“Damn, man–really?” His friend’s blue eyes widened. “You’ve sworn for over twenty Years you’d never get married again.”

“I know that, and considering how Aerin is, I still might not,” the Silver Fox said. “We might stop at something she calls _handfasting,_ but that’s good enough for me.”

“All right, that makes sense.” CC nodded as he crossed his arms. “Am I to assume that I need to clear outta my own house for the Night or something?”

“Well, I wouldn’t recommend staying unless ya can deal with a couple Animals downstairs,” he laughed. “’Cuz trust me when I say even pitching a tent in the back yard prolly won’t help ya, as much racket as we’re no doubt to make since it’s been so long.”

“You’d be surprised what I can handle,” the guitarist retorted with a grin. “But hey, if ya really want the privacy, I can talk to Shannon when I drop Vallon off. We might not be good together as a couple anymore, but we usually get along well enough that I think she’d lemme spend the Night, if need be.”

Nodding his agreement as he slid down off the exam table, Rob got ready to head out front so he could get checked out. He was more than ready to get outta here and never have to make another appearance in a medical facility unless it was for something like an annual physical. These seemingly constant appointments on top of just being hospitalized in the first place were more than a lil old, as far as he was concerned.

Back at CC’s house, he was more than a lil glad to find that Rikki’d dropped by and stolen his girlfriend for the afternoon. She was a Self-professed home-body and tended to like staying in more often than not, but he knew she’d been going a lil stir-crazy lately. If another of his friends taking her out to lunch or something helped cure that, he was more than willing to let them. Not only that, though, but it gave him Time to wrack his brain and come up with something that’d more than surprise her for later that Night, now that he’d been cleared to do more than just lay around.

Later that Eve, Rob felt a lil bad that he’d taken over his friend’s house like he had, but the shortest blonde was more than glad to accommodate his Wishes. Granted, that left him hiding in the master suite upstairs after a certain point, but he made sure to grab a quick dinner and take a handful of snacks upstairs with him. He didn’t wanna have to come back down for anything and interrupt what he knew was supposed to be a very special Night, but his own ex hadn’t been feeling nice enough to be nearly as accommodating.

After doing the worst of the set up, he shot a quick text to Rikki, whom he’d texted and asked to keep his girlfriend out and about for as long as possible. He’d wanted more than enough Time to throw together a recipe she’d taught him–even though he knew it’d make him miserable by the Witching Hour. Since it took somewhere between an hour and two to manage, then there were a few more partsta add to even that, he hadn’t wanted her to walk in before he was ready. Luckily, the drummer’d been all too happy to oblige him, even though he didn’t have the slightest clue why he was making such a request.

Just as he put the finishing touches on tonight’s setup, the Silver Fox heard the front door open, and he couldn’t help the lil bit of Anxiety that gripped him. Hearing his friend and girlfriend bid each other a quick goodbye meant he’d just enough Time to take a deep breath and double check his pocket. With that done, he took as relaxed a stance as he could manage at the island and simply waited for her to walk into the kitchen.

“Rob, what on Earth?” Aerin’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she took in the _über_ -Romantic setup.

“What–can’t a guy wanna show his Romantic side and do something special for his girl?” he chuckled as he straightened.

“You’re up to _something_ –I can feel it,” the young woman laughed, even as she Returned the hug he gave her.

“Maybe I am, maybe I’m not,” Rob said, shooting her a devious grin.

“Judging by that grin, I’d say ya got good news today,” she mused, letting him push her bar stool in once she was settled.

“I’d say so,” the Silver Fox agreed. “Got those damn stitches taken out, and he cleared me for some shenanigans.”

Aerin couldn’t help a laugh. “I think we’re both glad for that, ’cuz Gods know I’ve _missedja.”_

“Can’t possibly be more than _I’ve_ missed _you,”_ he all but purred, nuzzling her temple. He knew exactly what she meant by that particular choice of phrasing.

“I think that’s gonna be up for debate, love,” the young woman retorted with a purr of her own. “I just hope Vallon’s already back with his mom so we don’t scar the poor boy.”

“CC made sure of that a couple hours ago,” Rob assured her. “And yes, I warned him that we’re likely to turn into a pair of Animals.”

“Considering it’s been over a month since _either_ of us got any action, I’m sure,” she laughed.

“Too well I know it,” the Silver Fox chuckled. “I feel like I’ve been counting the Days ever since my stomach first started hurting, but especially after my surgery.”

Naturally, Aerin wanted as much of an update as he’d give while they were eating, and he wasn’t the least bit surprised by that. But there wasn’t really much to tell beyond that his surgeon’d all but given him a clean Bill of Health and warned him not to go _too_ crazy with his sex Life. Even the guitarist upstairs could attest to that, although he didn’t actually say so to avoid ruining the Romantic Night he’d planned.

After they were done eating, Rob used the couple minutes it took to rinse off the worst of the linguine sauce and add their plates and glassesta what he’d already loaded into the dishwasher so it could be run to shore up his Courage. He couldn’t deny being every bit as nervous as the first Time he’d proposed back in the late-eighties, but for drastically different reasons. Back then, he’d been young and still what the old-Timers called _wet behind the ears_ –he hadn’t known what he was getting into in the slightest. While he might not be nearly as young or inexperienced anymore, he still had every reason and then some to be nervous.

The young woman he turned to face again was like none other he’d ever met in his almost fifty-eight Years, that much was for damn sure. Sweet as sugar, yet sour as a Lemon when she felt like it, kind, caring, tender-hearted, and gorgeous beyond all comparison–that description was just barely scratching the Surface with her. He doubted there’d ever truly be a description that completely fit her, and he loved that about her.

“All right, ya devious and handsome devil,” Aerin chuckled, squirming a bit under his stare. “Don’t try to tell me you’re not up to something again, ’cuz I know damn good and well ya _are.”_

“There’s absolutely no beating around the bush with you, is there?” he asked with a chuckle of his own.

“Fuck, no–I thoughtcha already knew that, though,” the young woman laughed.

“Then I guess I better quit dicking around, both before I piss ya off _and_ I lose my nerve,” Rob said, taking her by surprise.

She couldn’t help her jaw dropping as he gently pulled her to her feet, maintaining his grip on her left hand once she was standing.

“Aerin, I don’t think I can ever put into words how much ya mean to me,” the Silver Fox started, and she knew he was serious since they rarely ever called each other by name unless talking to a third party.

Aerin wasn’t too sure where he was going, but she could feel his Anxiety and choseta just keep her mouth shut.

“Fuck, I don’t think I could ever put it into actions any more than I can words,” he continued. “You’re so intelligent, ya make _me_ look like an idiot sometimes–and we both know I’m smarter than I look. But it wasn’t just your Intelligence that reeled me in right from the moment we met–it was your kind heart and caring Soul more than anything.”

The young woman couldn’t help flushing slightly, her smile turning a hair shy.

“The more I got to know ya, the more I realized I’d to have ya in my Life for the rest of my Days,” Rob told her. “And while I’m still every bit as content with being able to call ya mine, what we’ve been through recently made me realize a few things.”

“I’m sure,” she chuckled, gently squeezing his hand.

“First and foremost, every Day that I wake up might very well be my last,” the Silver Fox said. “Every Night I fall asleep next to ya might be the last Time before I simply don’t wake up again.”

“I’d rather not be reminded since that’s how Daddy went out, but I get what you’re saying,” Aerin told him, nodding.

“The second biggest thing’s that I may not have as much Time with ya to do certain things I’d like to, and my being so much older doesn’t help that.” He took a deep breath as he reached into his pocket, then started to drop down to his knee after pulling his hand back out.

The young woman’s jaw dropped as his Intent hit her like a brick between the eyes.

“That being said, I wanna do this while I still can,” Rob told her. “Since I can’t put into words or actions how much ya mean to me, hopefully this’ll do a better job of it. And hopefully, it’ll prove I’m in this for the long haul, if I’ve somehow failed at even that over the last Year.”

She honestly couldn’t find her words, even though she wanted to stop him since he knew damn good and well how he felt about marriage.

“If ya don’t take this ring as anything but a reminder of my promiseta be there for ya till I’m nothing but a Spirit come back to hauntcha, that’s fine–but I’ve to ask, anywhore,” the Silver Fox said. “Aerin, will ya make me the happiest man on the Planet and do me the greatest Honor by handfasting with me?”


	31. Thirty

_Hillsborough, North Carolina_

A week to the Day after being unable to find it in herself to refuse her now- _fiancé’s_ proposal, Aerin found herself driving into the next-to-last Town she’d lived in before leaving North Carolina. She and the entirety of Poison’d flown out to Nashville the Day after Rob’s final post-op appointment, which they’d just barely made. After all, she and said now- _fiancé’d_ been up pretty late to celebrate after his proposal–not to mention just work the sexual frustration outta their systems. They’d overslept by about fifteen minutes, but those fifteen minutes’d nearly made the difference between making and missing their Eastbound flight.

Out in Nashville, they’d decided to make a road trip outta going back to Charlotte to give their statements on the case her mother was still in jail for. Even Ash could see that the flight out from California was about all she could stand at the moment and had advised against putting her on another plane this soon. Besides, that gave them more than enough Time to just enjoy the scenery as they passed through the Appalachian Mountains.

Having finished up with giving their statements pretty quickly, the young woman’d decided to make this into a bit more of a road trip that originally planned. She told the trio of blondes and their kids–who’d also come out East for the somewhat rushed handfasting they were doing in less than a week–that they definitely didn’t have to come with, but this was something she felt she _had_ to do. It’d been Years since she’d last been to the cemetery where her great-grandparents’d been laid to rest back in 2005, and now was the Time to do it, if she was ever gonna go again. But not even her _fiancé_ knew the full Truth about why she was almost desperate to go, although he _could_ see that part of her still didn’t wanna.

Since Rob refused to let his girl do something so hard for her alone, he’d ultimately decided to make the three or so-hour drive back to where she was from. To that End, Ash, Aidan, the rest of his band, and their kids all decided to accompany them since they weren’t the type of folksta let their friends do something like this on their own. It was a show of support the young woman greatly appreciated, which was proven by the small smile she gave them before Ash grabbed her for a Bear-hug.

“We’re almost there,” she said in responseta Vallon’s question.

He, his dad, Rikki, and the drummer’s kids were all in the back rows of her Tahoe, the rest of the group being in the one she’d finally talked the younger bassist into getting for himself.

“You’re sure about that?” the teenager asked, looking a bit dubious as she made a right-hand turn.

“I might not know this Town quite as well as Kat ever did, but I’d like to think I still remember how to get to the cemetery more than a lil of my family’s buried in,” Aerin chuckled.

“How much of your family’re we talking?” Rikki asked, a curious note in his voice.

“Oh, Gods–we’re talking going back generations!” the young woman laughed. “I can’t even remember all the names of the folks I’m related to that’re buried in this place, there’s so many of ’em!”

“Holy shit,” CC chuckled. “Sounds like a helluva family.”

“Eh, a lot’re what we call _marry-ins,”_ she said, flicking her turn signal and merging into the left-turn lane at the corner of Churton and Corbin. “But even if I share blood with ’em, I most likely didn’t know ’em–a lot were dead long before I was an itch in my daddy’s britches, after all.”

After the stoplight turned and she’d an opening big enough for her and Ash both to make it so he wouldn’t lose her, Aerin made her left-hand turn onto Corbin Street. She drove right past the lone building on the left, which she said housed a doctor’s office for as long as she could remember. Just past the next structure–which was one of the oldest-looking houses any of those with her’d ever seen–they spotted a short, brick fence that extended as far as the eye could see.

Pulling up alongside that brick fence allowed them to glance over, and they all realized they’d made it to their apparent destination. There were obvious grave markers sticking up all over the place starting pretty much at the corner of where that brick fence merged with a chain-link one. Said chain-link fence ran back perpendicular to it too far for any of them to tell exactly how far back it went since they didn’t know the cemetery’s boundaries.

“Jeez, these’re some old-as-fuck-looking graves,” the guitarist breathed as she drove right past the first driveway that led down into the cemetery.

“Well, Hillsborough’s older than dirt almost,” she laughed, finally flicking her turn signal again as she approached the second driveway that led into it. “The Town was founded in 1754, after all.”

“Damn, really?” Even Rob’s eyes widened when he heard that.

“I’ll show y’all a few more good hot spots before we leave, if you’re really _that_ curious, but yeah,” she answered. “But this is the old side of the cemetery, so there’s no telling exactly how far back the graves up here go. They could range all the way back to the Town’s founding, for all I know–the dates’ve no doubt been eroded away, so it’d be almost impossible to tell.”

Carefully sticking to the narrow strip of pavement, Aerin essentially just let her truck pull itself down the Hill, her foot on the brake the whole Time. The graves they rode past all seemed like they were decently old, considering that nearly all of them sported upright markers, which hadn’t been done in decades. None of them were quite as old as few they’d ridden past on the street, though–that much was obvious by how new these looked compared to the other ones. But that was quick to Change as they got further and further down the Hill into what was obviously the newer part of the cemetery.

By the Time they started rounding the left-hand curve the pavement took after passing the first two _intersections_ –if they could be called that–on the left, they were almost completely surrounded by the newest of the upright markers. All the markersta their right after rounding that curve were the newest, though, ’cuz they were all the newfangled ground-level type. She said as she cut the hard right that’d actually take them into that newest part that she was pretty sure they’d started doing that ’cuz they were easier to mow over, as long as they weren’t adorned by one of the Stone vases that decorated some. Cutting a hard left almost as soon as she’d straightened out her truck, she said she wasn’t sure about that, but that’d been what she’d always heard.

Once she’d pulled up enough that the small Tree on the bank of a Creek that ran right through the cemetery’d be Centered between hers and Ash’s trucks, Aerin threw hers into park. Even her _fiancé_ was smart enough to realize that they must be pretty closeta wherever she Intended to take them and reached down to unbuckle his seat belt. As he opened his door, his band mates doing the same so they could start getting kids out, she shut her own before stepping onto the grass.

“Stick as closeta the tops of the markers on this side as y’all can,” the young woman said, holding out her left arm before she bothered taking a step further than she already had.

“Why?” Bret asked, shooting a confused look at her back.

“Don’tcha know it’s disrespectful to walk all over someone’s grave?” she shot back with a chuckle. “Besides, I don’t think y’all want anyone attaching ’emselvesta haunt y’all out the ass for doing such a thing.”

“Fair enough,” the drummer said, holding his daughter’s hand after helping her down outta the truck.

Aerin was quick to hold out her arm before letting even Rob step off the pavement. “If there’s anyone or anything here, you’re not allowed to touch _any_ of us, nor are ya allowed to leave with us–y’all _must_ stay here when we leave.”

“What the…?” Even Vallon shot her a confused look.

“Ghost-hunting thing, kiddo,” the young woman chuckled. “Trust me when I say that after Nightfall ain’t the only Time spooks, specters, what y’all call demons, and untold numbers of other shit comes out to play–and thatcha don’t want certain shit making an attachment.”

“I’m pretty sure that shit isn’t real,” the vocalist said.

“Come talk to me after _you’ve_ been touched by _something_ when ya were on a Ghost hunt,” she retorted as she finally started toward the small Creek. “Till then, I don’t wanna hear it since I _have_ been touched by hell-only-knows what on a Ghost hunt before.”

Continuing down to what she knew was the sixth plot in the row, she finally cut to her right so she was walking between it and the one next to it. Rob kept quiet as he followed her, a bit surprised when she let out an unladylike snort as she finally knelt down almost between the markers. The others made sure to stay as closeta in between graves as they could, but moved to see what the markers she’d almost knelt between said as he knelt down behind her.

On her right, there was one that bore the name _Helen C. Evans,_ and the woman apparently buried there’d been born in May of 1928, according to what it said. She’d apparently been dead since February of 2005, and reading that particular date jogged part of his memory as he glanced at the one on their left. This one bore the name _Howard W. Evans,_ as well as a Birth date in February of 1920 and a Death date in May of 2005. As he read the details–which included a few about the man’s prior military service–he realized this guy’d passed only a Day before what woulda been the birthday of the woman buried beside him. Judging by the names on the markers, he figured this pair of graves belonged to a pair of spouses that’d died within months of each other.

But it was what was in between the graves that quite literally took his breath away as he shifted enough to read over his _fiancé’s_ shoulder. The one at the top quite clearly read _Robert H. Crosswhite,_ and bore the Birth date of October fifteenth, 1945–the Death date read October _sixteenth,_ 2014\. He knew without having to ask whose grave she’d decided to come visit, but he was surprised by the marker immediately below it.

That second small marker read _Katherine E. Crosswhite,_ the woman’s Birth date having apparently been July twenty-fourth, 1951. However, her apparent Death date was only within the last couple Years, listed as being after Aerin’d fled her home State. She wouldn’t have known that her grandmother’d passed, if nobody in her family’d known how to contact her and let her know. Course, considering what she’d to say about the woman, he doubted she’d have really cared, had she gotten that kinda call. If anything, her response prolly woulda been something along the lines of, _Yeah, and? Bitch had it coming since she wouldn’t take care of herself_.

“Hey there, Daddy,” she finally said, reaching down to caress the marker bearing her pappaw’s name.

Everyone else in the small crowd gasped softly as they finally realized exactly why they were here.

“Been a long Time since I’ve been here, I know,” the young woman continued, sounding like she was biting back tears. “I admit, I’ve been a chickenshit–I didn’t wanna have to come back and face Life withoutcha in it after Jason broke those post-hole diggersta putcha here.”

Not even the Silver Fox’d the heart to ask who on Earth _Jason_ was just yet.

“But it’s been almost seven Years since then–it’s Time I put that part of my Past to rest, once and for all,” Aerin said, leaning back against her _fiancé_ when he wrapped his arms around her from behind. “That, and kinda, sorta introduce ya to those who mean the most to me now.”

Rob couldn’t help a slight smile as she turned just enough to kiss his cheek before turning her attention back to the marker in front of her.

“This is my _fiancé,_ Rob.” The young woman couldn’t help the smile on her face, despite the tears finally coursing down her cheeks. “I Wish he and I’d met before ya left us so ya coulda gotten a chanceta meet him–y’all might not have the same tastes in Music, but I think y’all’d have gotten along pretty well. You’re damn near two Peas in a pod, as it is.”

The entire group chuckled, even as she reached up to grab Ash’s hand and all but yank him down in front of her.

“And this’d be the overprotective ass of a big brother I never had, Ashley,” she chuckled. “He’s every bit as stubborn and bone-headed as you and Rob, but he’s every bit as tender-hearted and sweet enough to cause a cavity when he feels like it.”

“I regret that I never got the chanceta meetcha,” Ash said, gently touching the edge of the marker. “From what she’s said, it woulda been a helluva party when we were both still drinkin’ men–and just some good ol’ back porch-pickin’ after we put the bottles down.”

“And Aidan–well, I ain’t too sure whether to call her my sister or my sister-in-law since she and Ashley’re together,” the young woman said, her other best friend kneeling down. “I think I’ma go with sister-in-law, though, since being sisters’d be a lil too weird with her dating my claimed brother.”

“A shame I never actually got to meetcha,” Aidan said with a chuckle. “To hear her talk, ya weren’t always the best man, butcha did your best–which can be said about all of us, I’m sure.”

“The rest of these guys–well, I’ve known _of_ ’em for Years, but didn’t actually get to meet ’em till this Summer,” Aerin continued. “But considering they wouldn’t even let Rob come up here with me by himself, I think it’s safe to say they’ll always have _my_ back, too–and that’s the kinda friends I both want _and_ need.”

Bret, Rikki, and CC all voiced their agreement, each of their hands on their kids’ shoulders.

“But even though ya might not’ve gotten the chanceta meet any of ’em in Life, I know you’ll get to meet all these folks on the other side eventually as much as I’ll get to see ya again one Day.” The young woman’d to pause so she could bite back a sob as she caressed the marker again. “I love ya, Daddy, and not a Day goes by that I don’t miss ya–even when I don’t show it.”

Rob was quick to tighten his grip on her as he shifted so he was sitting Indian-style, which allowed him to pull her into his lap. Even as he rubbed her back Soothingly, he knew damn good and well why she’d insisted on making this lil pilgrimage without having to ask. Once she went back to Tennessee again, she’d never come back to North Carolina for anything else since she’d no other ties here. That included coming back for shit like this, to visit the grave of her dearly beloved pappaw, whom she still clearly missed more than she’d ever actually say.

Suddenly sensing something that felt a bit _off,_ Aerin reached up to wipe her eyes as she looked up from where she’d all but buried her face in her _fiancé’s_ shirt for a moment. Her jaw dropped as she looked past the group of men directly in front of her, and she’d to actually rub her eyesta make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. Never in her wildest Dreams’d she thought she’d see what she currently was, which made everyone else turn.

Almost directly behind the men, woman, and children she now called her family, there stood a relatively transparent figure. Everybody gasped as they saw it, all of them taking in how the man was dressed in an obvious Army dress uniform covered in various patches and badges of Honor. But it didn’t take a geniusta figure out _who_ this man was as he lifted his right arm, the fingers of his right hand just barely touching his forehead before he snapped off a crisp salute and lowered it again. Despite appearing younger than even the picture she’d once shown her boyfriend, and subsequently shown Rikki and Ash–the former of whom’d shown it to the rest of his band for her–there was no mistaking that this was Bob Crosswhite.

The sob she’d been choking back erupted from Aerin’s throat as she took in the sight, but there was a slight note of Happinessta it. It sounded like there was a part of her that was glad to see this particular Spirit as he took a few steps closer to the group. But as he took those few steps, his features morphed so he looked about twenty Years older that he’d looked before. Not only that, but his physique morphed so that he looked significantly heavier, and instead of wearing his military uniform, he wore a different one that’d _Bob_ in the name area.

“I’ve missed you, too, puddin’,” the Spirit finally said. His accent was even thicker than the accent his granddaughter, herself often bore.

“Oh, Daddy,” she sobbed, despite the smile on her face.

“Ah, hush that fuss,” Bob chuckled as he knelt down in front of her. “You’ve cried for me enough the past few Years.”

The young woman didn’t bother trying to deny that since she knew it was true.

“I’m just glad to see ya got away from this family while there was still Time,” he told her, reaching out to gently caress her cheek. “I never stopped watching over ya till ya met this fine young man–” He gently touched Ash’s knee, surprising him with how solid and real the touch felt. “–but after that, I knew ya were in good hands.”

Aerin couldn’t help a chuckle, if only at her friend’s reaction.

“Now I know you’re in even better hands, between him, your _fiancé,_ and his fine young friends,” the Spirit said with a chuckle of his own before he turned his attention behind her.

Rob was more than a lil surprised, but then again, he’d never quite believed in Spirits since he’d never had a reason to before.

“I wanna thank ya, Rob,” he said, holding out his hand to him. “And it’s an Honor to share a name with ya.”

“Uh, my pleasure,” the Silver Fox responded, even though he felt a bit awkward as he accepted the handshake–till he realized how solid he felt.

“Keep takin’ care of my lil puddin’ cup, and don’t gimme a reason to come back to haunt _you_ before ya join me, all right?” Bob said. The glint in his Jade eyes and the slight chuckle still in his voice almost belied the stern look he was giving him.

“I wouldn’t Dream of doing otherwise, sir,” he said. “And I think I can safely say that neither will the others.”

Everybody else, including Aidan and the kids, assured the Spirit that he wasn’t wrong in that assumption.

“Then have fun, and don’t do anything _too_ stupid,” he told them. “I Wish I could be there to walk ya down the aisle, puddin’, but it’s high Time I took off to go haunt Betsy for the rest of her Days.”

Laughing as she made to rise from her _fiancé’s_ lap, Aerin said that she wasn’t the least bit surprised by that, knowing what she now knew. She’d be off to haunt the bitch, if it were her, too, which just made her pappaw laugh as he helped her up to her feet. Noticing the looks on everyone else’s faces as he then extended his hand down to help the Silver Fox up, she said she’d explain it in a minute.

Before she let his Spirit leave, the young woman all but launched herself at her pappaw and wrapped her arms around his transparent form as tightly as she possibly could. Bob couldn’t help a loud, boisterous laugh as he Returned the gesture, a grin on his face as he said he’d wondered if she’d do that or not. The young woman let out another laugh as she said that she hadn’t done that enough while he was still alive, and she’d be damned, if she didn’t take what could be her last chance now before she’d to wait till they were reunited on the other side of the Veil.

Once they’d enjoyed one last, very drawn-out hug, the Spirit turned his attention to the rest of the group, who’d merely watched in Silence as they fought back tears of their own. Ash was the first one outta them that he offered his hand and thanks for watching over his granddaughter to, the younger bassist still surprised at how solid he felt. Next on his list was Aidan since she seemed to be equal parts sister and mother Hen to the young woman, which he felt she needed.

After making his rounds of the blondes that made up Poison and their kids, Bob Crosswhite turned so that he faced the far side of the cemetery he was buried in. Rob wrapped his arms around his _fiancé_ from behind again, unable to help a smile at the sigh she let out as she leaned back against him. As they watched him start heading in the Direction he’d turned to face, Aerin said that he was heading toward Highway Seventy, and she knew why. Even as he disappeared through the Trees that separated highway from cemetery, she said that he was off to haunt her aunt till she Returned the ashes she’d stolen from his urn by at least spreading them on the ground over where he was buried.

It wasn’t till after the Spirit was gone that any of them made to head back to the trucks they’d driven here, a gentle Breeze teasing their hair as if he were giving them a final send-off of their own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit, I'd to pause so I could wipe my eyes numerous Times from the moment Aerin said, _Hey there, Daddy_ as I was writing this chapter. I don't normally cry when I write unless it's particularly Emotional, and this chapter definitely was. And doubtless listening to one of Daddy's favorite songsta play when he'd get to _bangin' on his guitar_ didn't help that.
> 
> Much like Aerin, I haven't been to Daddy's grave since the Day he was put in the ground–and yes, part of it's that I really _have_ been too chickenshit to do it. Another part's that I usually don't have a way to get there since I no longer live in the same Town. But even if I _did_ have a way to, I still prolly wouldn't–it still feels like just yesterday that I was woken in the middle of the Night for the Disaster that became known as his Death, and I don't feel like tearing myself apart like that, even almost seven Years later.
> 
> That being said, I've added a couple pictures of Daddy and I when I was a baby to help give a visual on how old Bob Crosswhite was supposed to look when his Spirit morphed right before the group's eyesta the Wattpad posting of this chapter. The first was from when I was a newborn, the second's actually from twenty Yearsta the Day before he died. Every Time I see that Time stamp now, it makes me wanna cry harder than writing this chapter did, 'cuz it was almost like a premonition when ya think about it.  
> ~Firefly


	32. Thirty-One

_Athens, Tennessee_

By the Time they’d reached the exit for the Biltmore Estate the Day after visiting her pappaw’s grave–which’d given many of the others a firm belief in Spirits–Aerin said there was one more thing she wanted to do before going back to Nashville. Since Bob Crosswhite’s family was from the Central-Eastern half of Tenn, many now residing pretty much everywhere from Alabama back to North Carolina, she kinda wanted to see what used to be _his_ mother’s house again. According to her, it was about halfway between Knoxville and Chattanooga, and she hadn’t been there since she was around the age of nineteen. That was the last Time she’d accompanied him out to Tenn before her great-grandmother’d passed, and the last trip _he’d_ ever gotten to make before his own passing.

The others all seemed curious about part of what could technically be considered her Ancestral Lands and had decided to go with her. All their eyes’d widened when she’d taken the fork for Southbound I-seventy-five, even though they really shouldn’t have been surprised. It wasn’t like she’d made any bones about the general area of where this place was supposed to be, after all–she just hadn’t said _exactly_ where it was. But even though they were surprised by the Southbound turn, they didn’t try to get her to tell them where they were headed.

After taking the exit for a Town called Athens, even Rob was a bit surprised when she made a right-hand turn onto State Highway Thirty–or more commonly, Decatur Pike. He’d heard of a few different Towns that bore the name Decatur–most famously Decatur, Georgia and Decatur, Indiana–but he’d never heard of a Decatur, Tenn. The young woman laughed as she said that it most definitely existed, ’cuz that was actually the Town they were headed to now. Or rather, not exactly the Town of Decatur itself, but rather the outskirts of it after making another turn that put them back Southbound again.

Driving about six miles after that right-hand turn saw them coming to the intersection of what’d turned into the David W. Lillard Memorial Highway and State Highway Fifty-Eight. It was at this intersection that Aerin flicked her turn signal and merged into the left-turn lane, the younger bassist hot on her bumper. Much to everyone’s surprise, they still had cell service–prolly ’cuz of the carrier they were all on–so they’d an ongoing phone call at the moment to make sure he didn’t get lost. She’d said she couldn’t give him an addressta meet up with her at, should he get lost, simply ’cuz she didn’t remember it. After all, when she said it’d been Years since she’d been to this particular house, she wasn’t kidding, and she’d never memorized the address before then.

 _“Damn, girl_ – _ya takin’ us out to the boonies, ain’tcha?”_ Ash laughed as he followed her. Aidan, Bret, and the vocalist’s daughters were all riding with him.

“Compared to what I’m sure most of y’all’ve ever been out to, hell yeah!” she laughed. “And I say most ’cuz I seem to recall ya saying _you_ were from East Bumfuck, Missouri, and Aidan’s damn near from there, herself.”

 _“Shit, Berger’s barely a dot on the map!”_ the younger bassist cackled. _“Course, it don’t seem like Decatur, Tenn’s much, if any bigger to me.”_

“Well, we’re not actually heading into town,” Aerin told him. “And I’m pretty sure the closest Walmart’s the one in Athens, if I recall what Granny Elsie once told me right.”

 _“Sounds like they might be about the same size,”_ he agreed.

 _“Same goes for where I’m from, too,”_ Aidan added as they passed by plenty of open fields.

“If I’m honest, we’re headed _away_ from Decatur and _toward_ –shit, I _think_ the Town’s called Allen,” Aerin said. “I wanna say that’s it, if only ’cuz I recall Granny Elsie saying there was a nearby Town that shared the same name as her.”

 _“Wait, I thought your pappaw’s_ – _and therefore_ your– _name was Crosswhite.”_ This was said by Bret from the younger bassist’s back seat.

“And it is,” the young woman chuckled. “But Granny Elsie remarried after the Death of my Papa Ike–which I think was back in ’77–so her married name became Allen after that.”

 _“This is some_ serious _back country, though,”_ Bret’s older daughter, Raine, spoke up.

 _“I’ve never seen so many Trees and so much grass in my Life!”_ her baby sister, Jorja, agreed.

“You’re not the only one, cuz,” Vallon laughed from her own back seat. “This is pretty trippy for me, too, and I think Jude and Lucy agree.”

The kids in question both agreed with their surrogate cousin, their daddy chuckling under his breath.

_“Hmmm…”_

“What is it, sweetheart?” Rob cast a sidelong glance as his _fiancé_ as he felt her truck losing speed.

“I’m purdy sure we’re getting close,” she answered. “Shiloh Road seems– _ah, ha!”_

The Silver Fox was a bit surprised when she cut herself off with that triumphant cry and flicked her turn signal. Unless she was planning on pulling off onto the shoulder or something, the only place she could possibly turn was a paved driveway on the left. It was the first–and so far _only_ –driveway on that side of the road since they’d come up on that Shiloh Road she’d started to mention, which’d apparently been on their left. He thought he’d seen a sign that said the road on their right that they’d passed bore a different name, but he couldn’t be entirely sure.

Pulling into the driveway, which curved to their right and abruptly Ended in what he’d have to call a parking Space, he took in the one-story brick house. It appeared pretty old, but in pretty decent shape for its apparent age, and he wondered if Bob Crosswhite’d actually grown up here, or if he’d grown up elsewhere. Maybe it wasn’t necessarily the kinda place _he,_ himself’d wanna live, but that didn’t mean somebody else wouldn’t.

But it was what appeared a fairly normal distance between neighbors that Rob spotted a small trailer that appeared either a Light brown or beige kinda Color. On the far side of that, there appeared to be some kinda workshop or storage building that appeared far more dilapidated. From the looks of things, they were both on an adjacent property that belonged to a neighbor, but there was one thing that struck him as odd. Unless it was simply on the other side of the trailer where he couldn’t see it, there didn’t appear to be a driveway leading up to said trailer. When he noted that aloud, his _fiancé_ couldn’t help a laugh as she threw her truck into park, Ash parking next to her in that area he’d have called a parking Space.

“That’s ’cuz it _ain’t_ an adjacent property,” Aerin said, those in the other truck hearing through her phone. “It’s all the same piece of property.”

 _“Wait, what?”_ The younger bassist sounded confused.

“One of Daddy’s youngest brothers used to live on the property, I guess ya could say as a kinda caretaker,” she explained. “He always used the same driveway, but pulled his van up into the yard closer to the trailer.”

“Ahhhh, _that makes sense,”_ Aidan chuckled. _“I’m guessing your granny lived in the actual brick house?”_

“She did, yeah, and she always parked under the lil car port over there,” the young woman answered, making sure at least Ash could see when she pointed over toward her left.

 _“Wait, who’s that pulling in behind us?”_ he asked, glancing in his mirror.

Glancing in her own, Aerin saw that he was right about somebody pulling into the driveway behind them, which made her guard go up. Judging by how they pulled under the aforementioned car port, she could only assume that they were the most recent homeowners since–last she’d heard–the great-uncle who’d lived here alongside her granny Intended to sell the place after Elsie’s Death. That could only mean they were about to get greeted by them, and most likely with some kinda firearm, considering where they were.

“Can we help y’all?” the man who warily approached her driver’s side asked once she’d rolled the window down.

Taking a long, hard look at him, Aerin’s eyes widened at the same Time she gasped. “Well, I’ll be damned–Gary Lynn!”

“Um, excuse me?” he asked, now looking confused.

“I’m not surprisedja don’t remember me,” the young woman chuckled, killing her motor so she could get out. “Ain’t seen ya in damn near seven Years, and it was a lot longer before that.”

This supposed Gary Lynn looked at her like she was nuts.

“The name Bob Crosswhite ring a Bell?” she asked, unable to help her grin.

“That was one of my older brothers, yeah,” the man answered, nodding.

“I’m his oldest granddaughter,” Aerin told him.

“Aerin? Well, God a’mighty, girl!” he laughed, moving to grab her in a bone-crunching hug. “I ain’t seen ya since the Day we put ol’ Bobby in the ground!”

 _“Oof!”_ The young woman couldn’t help a laugh as she Returned the hug as another man she now recognized warily approached, her _fiancé_ and surrogate brother getting out to round her hood. “Toldja it’d been a while.”

“Um, sweetheart–who the hell’s this?” Rob asked, sounding just as wary as the second man looked.

“Color me surprised, but these’re a couple of my uncles,” she answered as the others started to at least open doors. “Well, _great_ -uncles, unless I’ve the family Tree off, but we still share at least a lil blood.”

He and Ash couldn’t help their shared confused look, that last man still standing Silently as he readjusted his glasses.

“Wait a minute–Aerin?” he finally said, his eyes widening behind his obvious bifocals. “Lord, girl–I ain’t seen ya in Years!”

“I was thirteen the last Time, Uncle Jr.,” Aerin laughed, moving to hug him once the other man finally let her go.

As this _Junior_ character hugged her quite a bit more gently than his compatriot, everyone else within the trucks slowly started to emerge. None of them were quite sure what to make of what they were witnessing, but even the young woman was a bit confused. She’d heard that the one hugging her was gonna sell the property after his mother’s Death, so it was more than a bit of a surpriseta see these two show up here.

“Girl, what’re ya doing this far West?” Gary Lynn asked. “Ya were living in North Car’lina the last Time I saw ya.”

“I actually live in Nashville now,” she answered. “Well, ’bout twenty miles South of there, but same difference for a City _that_ big.”

“How’dja wind up there?” Jr. asked as they gestured for the fairly big group to follow them toward the back yard.

“Long story short, I got sick of the fuckers I called family in North Carolina after Daddy’s Death and left,” Aerin answered, following them over to what looked like an odd lil gazebo-type thing. “I wound up making it as far as Nashville before I’d to take shelter from a Twister.”

“Jeez, girl.” The first brother winced as they all started settling in the provided chairs and on the built-in benches around the perimeter.

“Yeah, it was kinda rough,” she admitted. “Damn near got myself shot when Ash–” She gently socked the younger bassist’s arm. “–and his buddy showed up since I technically broke into the house they were flipping at the Time.”

Laughing as he rubbed his arm, Ash admitted that he’d definitely been surprised to find her, although prolly more so at the Sword she’d brandished at him than anything. He was quick to introduce himself and Aidan before they went any further, though, each of the brothers introducing themselves, too. From there, the rest of the group were introduced one-by-one, Lucy looking like she wanted to go play since there was more than enough Space. The brothers were more than agreeable to the kids running off for a bit, as long as they stayed within yelling distance, since it’d be far from the first Time kids’d played on the property.

Jr. was quick to push himself up from his seat, telling the kids that there was actually an old tire swing on the back side of the lil red storage building that sat about halfway between where they were and his trailer. He said that he’d to check it for wasps before he’d let them play on it, ’cuz those lil winged assholes’d a bad habit of building nests in the tire, but at least there was a _lil_ entertainment for them.

Rikki was a bit surprised by how he seemed to act more like a dad than he didn’t as the kids ran off ahead of him, which made the young woman laugh. She all but begged her remaining uncle to correct her if she was wrong, but she was pretty sure he’d two boys of his own. One she distinctly remembered everybody called _Lil Ike_ since he was technically named Ike III, but she couldn’t remember the other boy’s name off the top of her head since she’d never actually met them.

“You’re not wrong about that, lil lady,” Gary Lynn chuckled. “He don’t talk to them boys no more, though.”

“I’m not gonna ask why since I heard he’d long since gotten divorced,” she said.

“God, that was _Years_ ago,” the man told her. “When him and that woman split, she took the boys and he pretty much never saw ’em again after that. Long since grown, they don’t have nothin’ to do with him, and he don’t have nothin’ to do with them in Return.”

“I know the feeling on getting divorced so long ago, ya barely remember it,” Rob chuckled. “Been twenty-one Years since my own divorce, but I’m the one who got _my_ kids.”

“They here with y’all?” he asked, cocking his brow curiously.

“Nah, Zach and Zoe’re at home in Florida,” the Silver Fox answered. “They just barely got to come out to California to visit me while I was recovering from a recent surgery.”

“Florida–California?” Gary Lynn’s brows rose in surprise. “I thoughtcha didn’t sound local, but good God.”

“I’m originally from Florida, moved up to Penn when I was young,” he laughed.

“We’re from Penn, through and through,” Bret chuckled, gesturing between himself and the tallest blonde.

“New York–Brooklyn, specifically–for me,” CC said with a grin.

“How on Earth did y’all meet, then?” the older man asked, his brother Returning just as he posed his question.

“We’re actually in a band together,” the vocalist answered. “Have been for almost forty Years, too.”

“Depends on what kinda Music ya listen to whether you’ve prolly heard of us or not,” the drummer told them.

“They listen to shit like _Sweet Home, Alabama,_ if that gives y’all a hint,” Aerin snickered.

“Ain’t shit, girl,” Jr. chuckled. “That’s some good listenin’ right there.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, he who could prolly give C a run for his money,” she laughed.

Said guitarist was quick to perk up, wondering exactly what she meant by that, which caused her to grin almost mischievously. Even Rob was a bit surprised when she said she’d heard this man play the lead riff of the aforementioned song, and she’d swear he was the guy who’d originally tracked it. The uncle in question blushed slightly as he looked a bit flustered, swearing he wasn’t _that_ good by any means.

“I betcha if I put it in your hands, my Greg Bennett Daddy got from ya’ll say otherwise,” the young woman said, clearly issuing a bit of a challenge.

“You’ve still got that thing?” Jr. asked, his eyes widening in surprise.

“Daddy kept it from the Time he got it from ya in the Spring of ’07 till the Day he died,” she answered, nodding. “After that, _I_ claimed it for myself and wouldn’t let that Gods-forsaken Uncle Jason _or_ my cousin, Emily, take it back to the Mountains with ’em.”

“At least it’s in good hands, then,” he said, Returning the nod with one of his own that seemed approving. “I don’t recall ya actually knowing how to play, though.”

“A lot Changes in fourteen Years, Uncle Jr.,” Aerin laughed.

“If not for decades more experience on her, she’d damn near put _me_ to shame,” the Silver Fox chuckled. “I wouldn’t say she’s as good as CC, though.”

Laughing, the young woman rose from where she’d settled in his lap, quick to pull her keys off her belt loop as she jogged back to her truck. Rob was quick to get up and follow her with a chuckle, knowing damn good and well what she was Intent on doing. He knew she’d packed her guitar and bass so that she could play without disturbing anybody, if she couldn’t sleep when they stopped at any point during their road trip.

Gary Lynn roseta go unlock the back door of the brick house so he could flip the switch for the porch Light, which also powered the gazebo. By the Time he ambled back down to it, the couple were Returning from the truck, each of them carrying a gig bag and an amp. From the looks of things, Aerin’d let her _fiancé_ take her bass since he was taller and wouldn’t have to worry about its longer neck and body causing it to hit the ground as he walked. It was pretty safe to assume that the amp he carried was her bass amp, which she’d also brought along so that she _could_ use it, if the opportunity presented itself like it did now.

Upon getting back to the gazebo, she laid the gig bag she carried across the patio table that was sitting there and unzipped it. Ash seemed surprised when she not only took out the guitar it housed, but actually turned to the man she kept calling Jr. and handed it to him without the slightest hesitation. Laughing as she turned to set up the lil Fender amp she’d brought out for it, she told him that she’d seen both of these men handle guitars and knew damn good and well they wouldn’t damage it.

“Gimme a sec, and I got one more that’ll prolly surprise ya,” the young woman said.

“Sounds good,” Jr. responded, pushing his glasses up as he started monkeying with the amp’s settings after plugging in the guitar he held.

“So, what’s so surprising about her handing that guitar to my brother?” Gary Lynn asked, settling in his previous seat again after plugging both amps in.

“She never–and I mean _never_ –lets anyone she doesn’t trust touch her gear,” the younger bassist answered. “I mean, she knows how good and experienced of musicians all these guys are, and Rob’s the only one she lets within spitting, never mind breathing distance of them.”

“Damn, really?” Even the man’s brother looked up from what he was doing with a bit of a surprised look on his face.

“Well, she said she got the guitar _you’re_ holding from her pappaw, along with another one,” he explained.

“Bob got this from me,” he chuckled. “Can’t remember where I got it from now to save my Life–I think some pawn shop over in Athens. But the second he clapped eyes on it, he was willing to do anything to get it from me.”

“Jives with what Aerin told me,” the older bassist said, nodding as he pulled her bass outta its bag.

“Her acoustic, she said she got from her pappaw, but didn’t know where _he’d_ gotten it ’cuz he’d it since before she was born,” Ash continued.

“What about that there bass guitar?” Jr. asked. “’Cuz my brother never played bass that I know of.”

“Last thing he ever tried to help me buy before his Death.”

Looking back behind the man she’d introduced as her _fiancé,_ they saw the young woman Returning with a handmade case they recognized.

“Is that what I think it is?” the older of the brothers asked.

“If you’re thinking it’s the Martin, you’d be right,” Aerin answered with a chuckle as she hauled the case up onto the table and laid it on the now-empty gig bag.

Pulling out the acoustic guitar within, she turned to Gary Lynn so she could gingerly hand it off, the younger of the brothers taking it as if it were an infant. He seemed Awed to be able to hold something that’d once belonged to his older brother long after the man was dead and gone. Seeing how he treated the instrument in his hands as he settled it on his thigh made them realize that–despite the physical distance–all the Crosswhite brothers’d cared for each other to some extent.

The young woman couldn’t help a laugh as Jr. plucked at the strings of the guitar he held, then grimaced and looked up at her as he asked what the hell she was tuned to. More often than not, she kept her gear drop-tuned by a half-step so that it was in D-sharp, rather than standard tuning. He cocked a brow at her, which made her grin as she explained that she tended to learn a lotta her _fiancé’s_ works, and that was their key.

Chuckling as he reached over to his left, he quickly up-tuned the instrument back to standard, which Rob knew was gonna irk her at first the next Time she went to play. Once it was tuned to where he apparently needed it, he focused his attention on the fret board, not even bothering to look down at his bridge as he started playing. Gary Lynn was quick to follow his lead, and it soon became obvious that they were playing _Sweet Home, Alabama_. All the professional musicians were surprised to realize that Aerin hadn’t been kidding about the older of the brothers’ ability, that he was every bit as good as she’d sworn he was. Even CC looked a lil stunned as the kids all ran back over at the Sound of Music drifting to them from the gazebo.

Once they’d run through that one, said young woman grinned as she looked at Jr. and asked if he recognized a certain intro. She was quick to start picking at the bass now hanging from her shoulder, which she’d up-tuned to match him so their playing sounded right together. He didn’t even try to bite back a laugh as he switched gears and started picking out something else that sounded almost country, but was almost as upbeat as the Poison songs _Good Love_ and _Let it Play_.

As they muted their strings, Aerin said that song was called _Groovy Grubworm,_ and it’d been one of her pappaw’s favorites. Just about every Time he’d pick up the Martin Gary Lynn still held, he’d start picking out that particular riff, albeit a helluva lot slower than it was supposed to be played. Glancing at his older brother again, she couldn’t help her mischievous grin Returning as she started picking out something else. Apparently, said uncle figured out what she was trying to say through her strings, ’cuz he grinned as he all but played it back to her. That allowed her to switch to the actual bass riff once they started over, and just about everybody was surprised when she started singing about a party, gin, footballs, talking Cats, and police cars, among other things. It was an all-around good Time that none of them’d been expecting, that was for sure, and they certainly enjoyed themselves immensely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, to start off–I really _do_ have a couple great-uncles by the names of Jr. and Gary Lynn. They were Daddy's youngest brothers as far as I know, and to my Knowledge, they still live in Tenn. Coulda moved elsewhere by now, as scattered-out as my family is, but last I heard, that's where they lived.
> 
> As for the setting–I added a couple screenshots I took of the house in question to the Wattpad posting. It looks almost identical to the way I remember it looking the last Time I was in Tenn, circa 2012, so I dunno if Google's updated their street view pictures or not. I tried to zoom in so the lil gazebo area I was talking about was a lil clearer, but nothing beats seeing it in person, as far as I'm concerned. Said gazebo's that Wooden structure behind the car port to the left of the red storage building.
> 
> And here's linksta the songs I was talking about at the very End of the chapter, as well. Daddy really _did_ love playing _Groovy Grubworm_ every fuckin' chance he got, and it was also the song that I was listening to when I wrote Chapter Thirty. Now I've moved on to the second song, which was another one of Daddy's favorite songsta listen to and I personally think is right up both Poison's and Ash's alleys when it comesta remembering–or maybe not so much–some of their wildest Days and Nights. LOL!  
> ~Firefly
> 
> Link to _Groovy Grubworm_ –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZjjeUCosAk
> 
> Link to _Wasn't that a Party_ –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-KDSxqJ_0o


	33. Thirty-Two

“Hey, Jr.–how late’re ya plannin’ on stayin’ up tonight?”

The uncle not even her _fiancé_ attacking her clit without a mouthful of Pop Rocks again could get her to admit she’d once had a sexual attraction to glanced over at Aerin. He and his brother’d just finished up the dishes since she and Aidan’d decided to make dinner for everyone to repay the pair for letting them crash here for the Night, considering they’d wound up pickin’ and just catching up till after Dark. Since these two were no doubt pushing sixty by now, if not older than that since she couldn’t remember their exact ages, she didn’t imagine they’d be up half the Night like her group might.

“Ah, I usually go to bed ’bout Midnight, now that I’m retired,” he chuckled, his accent making _Midnight_ come out as _Med-Night,_ just like her pappaw’d pronounced it. “Why ya wantin’ to know?”

“’Cuz I wanted to show Ash that mural ya did on your bathroom wall, if ya ain’t covered it up with somethin’ else by now,” the young woman answered with a chuckle of her own, catching her friend’s attention.

“Wait, you’re an artist?” he asked, turning her attention onto the older of the brothers.

“It runs in the family,” Jr. answered, shrugging. “Some of us’re just better’n others.”

“Don’t let his humble Nature fool y’all for a nanosecond,” she laughed. “Man puts even _me_ to shame, and I’ve let y’all see some of my Art.”

“Part of which some of us get to see more than others do,” the Silver Fox chuckled, earning himself a gentle smack to the chest.

“Pop Rocks!” Aerin snapped, her tone playful, even as she gave him his only warning.

 _“OhmiGoddess,_ ya showed him that trick?” the lone ginger all but cackled.

“So, _you’re_ where this devious wench learned it from!” he laughed. “I shoulda fuckin’ known, as devious as I’ve always known gingersta be!”

“I think we’re all equally interested by what the hell _that’s_ supposed to mean as we are by this mural ya mentioned,” Rikki chuckled. “Then again, maybe we _don’t_ wanna know whatcha mean.”

“If ya were _meant_ to know, you’d have been the one I got with that particular surprise last week,” the young woman retorted with a grin. “Since ya weren’t, andja otherwise weren’t there, I’d say that’s your sign from the Universe thatcha weren’t meant to know.”

Even Jr. and Gary Lynn couldn’t help but shake their heads in amusement, the latter of the pair handing his keysta his niece so they could let themselves back in. He was about ready to turn in for the Night, and even though he didn’t think anything’d happen, the daddy in him didn’t feel comfortable with leaving a bunch of sleeping kids alone in the main house. As he headed back to the far bedroom–which he’d claimed for himself after getting divorced and moving in following his mother’s Death–he assured said kids’ fathers he was a Light sleeper and that nothing got past him.

Nodding their agreement, especially once he said he actually slept with his boom-stick propped up next to the bed, said menfolk rose from where they’d settled in the living room. They all followed Jr. out the back door, Aerin taking the Time to put his keys on her carabiner so she wouldn’t lose them as she joined them. She knew they were all in for a pretty decent surprise once they got out to her uncle’s trailer, but she didn’t wanna ruin it for them before they could actually see it.

Flipping on the Light switch once he opened his front door, the older man gestured toward the other End of the trailer. He said his bathroom was the only door on the left, but they’d be best off taking turns one at a Time since it was so small. Ash nodded and said he’d take his turn first, ’cuz he was so curious as to what his friend meant that he was practically chomping at the bit to see. The others laughed as he headed off, his own girlfriend hot on his heels since she couldn’t wait to see any more than he could. It was the younger woman who simply grinned as she butted her hip against one of the kitchen counters, her crossed arms putting her ample cleavage on a beautiful display for her man as the pair flipped on the Light and took a look.

“Holy shit, man!” the younger bassist practically exploded as he peeped back down the hall. “Ya _seriously_ did all this?”

“Every last brushstroke,” Jr. answered, nodding as he glanced up from monkeying around with one of his own guitars. “Took me months, but it’s worth it.”

“All right, now I _gotta_ see this for myself,” Rikki chuckled. Being the one into drawing comics, he was the next most curious outta the group.

The flabbergasted pair came back into the living room, Awe painted all over their faces as much as that mural was on the bathroom walls.

 _“Day-um,_ Jr.–the attention to detail’s incredible,” he said as he came back to swap out with whoever wanted to see it next.

“Not the only form of Art I do–and I ain’t talkin’ ’bout Music, either,” the older man said, still sounding relatively nonchalant for the amount of praise being thrown at him.

“What else do ya do, then?” Ash asked curiously, Bret and CC Returning so their final band member could have a look at what all the fuss was about.

Jr. answered simply by grabbing the shotgun from behind his couch, which startled all but his niece till he held it out butt-first to let him take it.

“Sweet Goddess, man,” the younger bassist breathed, his eyes the size of dinner plates as he inspected what he realized the man was trying to show him. “All this done by hand?”

“Well, I ain’t got no machine in this trailer–or my buildin’–that’ll do it,” he chuckled.

Etched into the barrel where it was anchored into the Wooden butt of the shotgun was a Wildlife scene of a pair of Squirrels. They were surrounded by what was supposed to be falling Pine straw and a couple Pine cones, an Acorn held in one’s paws as it made to eat it. Carving something like this into Wood was already hard enough, but etching it into Metal without ruining the whole thing was a totally different story.

“Whoa, what the hell’s the boom-stick getting busted out for?” Rob asked as he Returned, his Awe at the mural quickly dissipated by the sight of the gun.

“Dude, ya gotta check this shit out,” his younger equivalent said, waving him over. “This is no easy shit to do.”

“Christ on a crutch,” the rest of Poison chorused as they moved closer to see for themselves.

“Damn, Jr.–if I thought my girl was kidding before, I just had my brain rebooted,” the Silver Fox chuckled. “I’ve never seen anyone quite this good with their mediums in my Life.”

“And that’s saying something, considering the Art I wear every Day and Night,” Aerin spoke up.

She wasn’t surprised that her uncle cocked a brow at her curiously.

“I’m the one who drew the designs for my tats,” the young woman chuckled, gesturing to her arms. “Yeah, Ash did a few touch-ups or suggested a few Changes before he inked ’em for me, but they’re all me.”

“I saw the Rose vines going down your arms,” he told her, nodding.

“Not exactly Rose vines since the stems’re actually barbed wire,” she said, moving closer and letting him take her hand so he could turn her arm.

“Well, I’ll be,” Jr. laughed, letting go once he’d gotten a good look. “I guess even _with_ my glasses, I’m still blind as a Bat.”

“Nah, I Intentionally designed ’em so thatcha can’t tell they’re barbed wire from a distance,” Aerin corrected him with a grin. “But you’re not the only one who’s said that before.”

“I’ll admit, I can’t see six feet in front of me without my own glasses,” the Silver Fox laughed. “And sometimes, even when I’m wearing them and right up on her, I can’t tell they’re actually barbed wire.”

Snickering, the young woman pointed out that he _still_ hadn’t noticed a tat she’d gotten Ash to do for her between a couple of his trips up from Florida, even though he saw the spot it was in all the Time. Rob cocked a brow curiously, wondering just what on Earth she meant since he hadn’t seen any new or otherwise unfamiliar tats on her. That prompted her to grin as she turned around so her back faced him and hiked up the back of her shirt till he could see the bottom of her bra.

Just beneath it and the Faeries that decorated her shoulder blades, there were four words on either side of her spine. He couldn’t help but almost choke on his own spit as he cracked up once he read them, wondering how on Earth he’d missed them before. Normally, he wouldn’t miss something like this tat–which read _Property of Voodoo Dall_ –so he assumed he’d missed it ’cuz they’d been in the middle of a romp.

“What’s so funny about a tat?” Aidan asked, looking as confused as the trio of blondes as her own man simply grinned deviously.

“What it says,” the young woman answered as she dropped her shirt again.

“Which is…?” the lead guitarist prompted, his own brow cocked now.

 _“Property of Voodoo Dall,”_ Aerin answered, snickering as her _fiancé_ cracked up again.

“Okay, now I gotta ask, girl–what on Earth’s _that_ supposed to mean?” Jr. asked with a chuckle of his own as said trio cracked up in their own rights.

“It’s basically my way of saying I don’t belong to any man but Rob,” she answered. _“Voodoo Dall_ is a pun on an old magazine article from around the early-nineties on him.”

“Oh, really?” the older man asked. “Now this, I gotta hear.”

Pulling out her phone since she’d a screenshot of where someone’d post a picture of the article online, Aerin said she’d read it since she was prolly the only one who’d actually be able to see it. Even with the image enlarged quite a bit, the text was still pretty tiny, not to mention it got kinda blurry when it was enlarged so much. The entire group agreed with that, even though the trio of blondes were pretty sure they remembered the article she was referencing.

 _“Bobby_ – _Voodoo Dall?”_ the young woman Began, starting with the article’s title. _“Does the Dark-haired, Dark-eyed member of Poison have some special magick, some Voodoo-spell appeal that makes him so sexy? Could be…”_

“My hair really was brown or black back in the Day,” Rob chuckled when her uncle cocked a brow at him. “Depended on whether I was dyeing it or letting it go Natural at any given Time. And my stage name’s Bobby Dall since the only other name I prefer’s Rob and my surname’s a bit of a mouthful.”

“All right, that makes a lil more sense since even _I_ can see you’re not Dark-headed now,” he laughed.

 _“Even his record company seemsta be under the spell of the_ Voodoo Dall– _listen to the mini bio they put out on him with the release of_ Flesh and Blood,” Aerin continued.

Even her best friends looked intrigued as she grinned.

 _“Bobby Dall_ – _Mysterious. Intimidating. Intense. Demolishes his bass guitar after a gig, if he’s feeling particularly hostile or in a good mood. Born in Florida on November second. Early jobs_ – _Clam digger, cook, carpenter. Sometimes disappears on the road between Poison concerts, once having fans in Philadelphia drive him to New York, where he opened the_ Cat Club _after closing Time to play DJ for his fellow passengers. Early Influences_ – _Rolling Stones, Aerosmith. Still lives in Florida,”_ the young woman read.

“And every last bit of that’s true, to some extent,” the Silver Fox chuckled.

“This is one of the funniest quotes I’ve ever read, but I’d say it’s pretty accurate, even now,” she said before looking back down at her phone. _“I grew up in Florida, ya know? There was a Gator in the bushes, and he was calling my name_ – _I just enjoy it much more.”_

“Kinda like there’s a Black Bear somewhere in these Woods that calls mine,” her uncle said, unable to help a grin of his own.

 _“That’s what the record company thinks of Bobby_ – _now here’s what he thinks of himself,”_ Aerin continued.

“Oh, this is gonna be good,” Ash chuckled, lacing his hands behind his head.

 _“I’m the quieter one in the band_ – _but none of us’re really quiet. I tend to think with the left side of my brain_ – _I worry more than most people. I was supposed to be a lawyer_ – _it was law, or rock ‘n’ roll. It woulda been fun, too, but I’m glad I went this way_ – _I didn’t go to college, but I was planning to till this happened,”_ the young woman read. _“I’d been in bands, but I’d never performed live, and I’d never found the right people who wanted to work and go for it, and be willing to pay the price. I met Bret and Rikki the Day I left my band_ – _a mutual friend gave them my number. I’ve always been a person that_ – _once I make up my mind to do something_ – _I’ma do it. Don’t hold back, don’t quit_ – _do it and make it happen. Starve yourself for it and pay the price. Bret and Rikki felt the same way.”_

None of the group could deny that everything printed in that now-decades-old article was true about the Silver Fox. Whether they were going by what the record company thought of him, or what he thought of himself, that article’d pretty much hit the nail on the head back then and it was still an apt description of him now. Even his younger equivalent’d to admit that, grinning as he thought back on the Day he’d taken him to get the ring now on his _fiancé’s_ finger–not to mention the others he’d also bought that Day.

When Aidan took notice of his shit-eating grin and questioned him about it, he didn’t hesitate in the slightest when he answered. The younger bassist admitted that he’d been the one to take Rob to get the ring before he’d proposed, and that’d only been ’cuz he’d asked him so since he knew the younger woman just as well, if not better in some ways. He recalled how he’d asked if he was sure that he’d wanted to do such a thing, and how vehement his answer was when he assured him that he really wanted to. If that didn’t ring true to the _don’t hold back, don’t quit_ – _do it and make it happen_ kinda mindset he’d clearly had through the eighties and at least part of the nineties, he didn’t know what did.

Even Jr. could see that this man really was head-over-cowboy-boots in Love with his niece, despite their obvious age difference, as he gently pulled her down onto his knee. The sentiment was clearly Returned–possibly even tenfold–if the look she gave him as she scooted so she was settled between his legs instead was anything to judge by.

Aerin couldn’t help a laugh as her uncle asked when they were planning on getting married, knowing this was a bit of a loaded answer. She was quick to explain that they weren’t actually getting married in the sense he was used to, but rather handfasting instead. Granted, that garnered her a confused look, to which she just told him to bear with her and not make any judgmental comments till he’d done so. The older man still looked confused, but nodded his agreement, which earned him approving looks from the rest of the group as they either leaned against the walls or settled in the floor.

“Handfasting’s a Pagan marriage that’s Celtic in origin,” the young woman Began. “Think of it kinda like the Spiritual marriages Mormons do when they’re on wife number two, or whatever the number actually happensta be.”

“All right, that makes a lil more sense,” Jr. said as he nodded. “But why that route instead of a Traditional marriage?”

“First and foremost, I simply don’t wanna be tied down like that,” she told him. “I’ma lil _too_ free-Spirited for that, not to mention it’s cheaper and easier to shack up than get divorced.”

“Point taken, ’cuz I remember what my own divorce was like,” the older man agreed.

“Second reason’s that _I_ don’t necessarily wanna get married again, either,” Rob spoke up. “Like I was telling your brother when ya were checking the tire swing earlier, I remember my own divorce about twenty Years ago–it was pretty nasty, and I don’t ever wanna set myself up for that kinda thing again, even though I don’t think Aerin’d pull half the stunts my ex-wife did.”

“I wouldn’t, especially if there were kids involved–although, I certainly hope that’s _not_ the case,” the young woman chuckled, not realizing how royally she was gonna End up eating those words. “I’ve said before that I don’t particularly want kids, but I’m not one to off an innocent baby just _’cuz_ I don’t want any.”

“That being said, we decided to kinda meet in the middle, I guess ya could say,” he continued. “Take the next step without tying a noose around our necks, if ya will.”

“Hey, if it works for y’all, who am I to disapprove, even if I don’t agree?” Jr. asked. “I can tell by the looks on your faces thatcha genuinely love each other.”

“That was the kinda response I was hoping for when I said to hear me out,” she laughed. “’Cuz I knew that growing up Baptist, ya weren’t likely to agree with my Spiritual choices and where some of ’em lead to.”

“I guess my only question now is when’re y’all planning on tying the knot?” the older man asked.

Aerin took a deep breath, unconsciously twisting her ring around on her finger as she admitted that they Intended to handfast that coming Saturn’s Day. Her uncle definitely looked surprised by that, and he couldn’t help asking when the proposal’d happened, if they were planning on doing it then. But she didn’t mind telling him their reasons why any more than her _fiancé_ did, said man gently hugging her from behind.

Even though he’d just proposed a week ago, they wanted to handfast as soon as possible for a couple different reasons. The first tied back into the surgery he’d mentioned earlier, which Jr. hadn’t heard about since he’d been busy checking that tire swing at the Time. After bringing him up to speed on that part, it wasn’t hard for him to figure out that they wanted to do it sooner, rather than later ’cuz if they postponed it by too long, it might never happen–and not ’cuz either of them’d planned it that way. But their other reason–which the rest of Poison’d only recently found out–was far deeper and more heartfelt than any other.

That coming Saturn’s Day was the seventh anniversary of her pappaw’s Death, and Rob was hell-bound and determined to give her some _good_ memories for that date. Combined with not wanting to wait till next Year ’cuz it was an all-too-distinct possibility that he may not _be here_ anymore next Year, they’d decided to fast-track it as much as they could. Not only that, but she wasn’t an extravagant or fussy woman who wanted some ritzy ceremony with a huge crowd of witnesses.

As far as she was concerned, the back-yard affair at Ash’s house surrounded by their closest friends and family they’d decided on was more than good enough for her. In fact, that was starting to push her limit on how many people she could handle all at once, and she really didn’t wanna go much further than that. But looking up at Jr. again, she said that as long as her Intended didn’t mind such a thing, that wasn’t gonna stop her from inviting him and Gary Lynn, now that they’d wound up in touch again. To her way of thinking, she didn’t have any blood family besides the two of them left, and it’d certainly be nice to have such a thing as such a significant event in her Life. If they couldn’t make it for whatever reason or simply didn’t wanna come ’cuz they didn’t wanna make it awkward, she totally understood, but the invitation was still open.

Her uncle chuckled as he said that he’d be Honored to attend her handfasting, even if it wasn’t the kinda thing he was used to, as far as marriage went. Since he’d the feeling he’d be up earlier than any of them would, he’d talk to Gary Lynn about it in the Morn, but he didn’t think he’d feel any differently. From there, the young woman said she was gonna bid him a good Night unless he didn’t mind her drinking around him. With her _purge Days_ coming up, she’d decided she was gonna take care of that a few Days early so she wouldn’t be drunk or hungover during said handfasting, but didn’t wanna do something he was uncomfortable with or otherwise didn’t allow in his home. Once the term was explained to him, the older man said he’d rather her drink out here in the trailer than in a houseful of kids, and the Night managed to turn into an even more lively one than it’d been before now.


	34. Thirty-Three

The Morn after being so suddenly reunited with family she’d hadn’t seen in Years, Aerin started awake when she heard a happy, yet somehow familiar cry from relatively close. It didn’t sound like any of the guys, the kids, or Aidan, not that it coulda been any but that last one from her own group. What she’d heard was relatively feminine, but still had a bit of a deeper bark to it like her own voice usually did, especially right after waking up.

Feeling a pair of lips against her throat alongside the person’s warm breath–which sent shivers down her spine–made her realize that she wasn’t alone. Not only that, but it made her realize she _was_ as nekkid as the Day she was born, which made her start to bolt upright to find out who was with her. The arm that was wrapped around her waist clamped down almost like a vice, effectively stopping her from sitting up even long enough to find out _where_ she was exactly. Only hearing a familiar chuckle from behind her made her realize that wherever she was, it was Rob with her, which made her relax against him a bit.

 _“Coulda been the whiskey_ – _mighta been the gin… Coulda been the three or four six-packs_ – _I don’t know, but look at the mess I’m in! My head’s a-like a football_ – _I think I’m gonna die! Tell me, me oh, me oh, my_ – _wasn’t that a party?”_ he sang softly, a bit of a teasing note to his voice.

“Oh, Goddess–I never shoulda done that one with my uncles yesterday,” Aerin giggled, even as she rolled over to face him.

“Not like ya didn’t teach me one I already knew,” the Silver Fox snickered. “It was just a memory refresher since that used to be one of my favorite drinking songs.”

She couldn’t help another giggle, which was somewhat muffled by the _good-Morn_ kiss he decided to give her.

“I’m sure you’re feeling better this Morn, though,” Rob said once he gently broke it.

“Do I even wanna know? Memory’s kinda fuzzy from still being mostly asleep,” the young woman admitted.

“Well, let’s just say we wound up in the back of the truck ’cuz we almost gave Jr., Aidan, and the guys a show,” he chuckled.

 _“What!?”_ Aerin actually managed to bolt upright this Time, and he didn’t bother trying to stop her.

Laughing as he sat up next to her, careful to keep his volume down for the most part, the Silver Fox said that–unlike normal when she started drinking–she’d finally shown her _horny drunk_ side. He’d no doubt that if she coulda gotten her fingersta cooperate more by that point, she’d have stripped and started riding him right there in front of those who were still up by that point. The guys and Aidan’d certainly gotten a good laugh outta her antics, her uncle merely shaking his head as he’d halfheartedly tried to fight her off. Well, that was till he got fed up with her persistence and decided to join her as much as he was gonna by simply hauling her off to the truck so they’d have privacy.

The young woman was mortified by her behavior since she didn’t normally act like that unless she was sober and doing it on purpose. Rob managed to reassure her that none of their almost-witnesses’d said anything too bad beyond _Go get ’er, Tiger!,_ ’cuz none of them really blamed her. After being cut off for a month due to his recovery, they knew that a mere week wasn’t gonna be enough Time to work it completely outta their systems. Considering that their chancesta have sex were a lil on the sparse side during even that week due to their road trip, they definitely didn’t blame them.

“Fuck, I need a shower,” she groaned, finally moving to start searching for at least part of her clothes.

“A capitol idea, sweetheart,” the Silver Fox agreed. “That, and your magick hands could work Wonders right about now.”

“Well, I guess they prolly would,” Aerin laughed. “I’m sure sleeping in the truck with your neck the way it is didn’t feel too good.”

“Better than having a bunch of rowdy voyeurs,” he retorted. “Especially Bret since he actually started drinking with ya.”

“Somehow, I’m not surprised to hear that,” the young woman said.

“Well, he’s the only one of us who still drinks sometimes, even though he _knows_ it’s not good for him,” Rob pointed out.

“Yeah, I know that,” she agreed, grumbling as she managed to get her boxers on. “’Cuz if you and Ash do, you’ll wind up in AA again, CC’ll prolly take it all the way back to coke and Gods know what else, and I dunno ’bout Rikki. That’s assuming none of ’em had so much as joint custody of their kids, of course.”

“I know whatcha mean.” The Silver Fox managed to get his own boxers on, then managed to find his tank top and glasses.

“Time to go see if anyone’s up since I dunno where my keys’re at, and that’s where I put Gary Lynn’s last Night,” Aerin sighed.

“Gave ’em to Ash since he’s the most responsible most Times,” he told her. “Jr. showed him which one’d get ’em back into the main house, if they didn’t just crash in his trailer.”

As she opened the back door of her truck once they were at least somewhat covered, the young woman couldn’t help cocking a brow at him before she slid out into the Dawn. Rob gingerly followed her, their gym bags of toiletries slug over his shoulder as he explained that it was roughly the Witching Hour when he’d dragged her out to her truck. Considering that there wasn’t much Light that late, her uncle’d told the others they’d be better off crashing with him, if they didn’t have any flashlights. He didn’t want any of them tripping, winding up bitten by a Copperhead, or simply unable to get into the house ’cuz they couldn’t see to unlock the door.

She didn’t even get a chanceta respond, let alone close the door of her truck before she heard that same voice that’d woken her up. A pair of arms grabbed her from behind in a nearly bone-crushing hug, but the person’s voice finally rang a Bell in her sleepy brain. Turning to face the person once they loosened their grip again, she wasn’t disappointed to see who she’d thought it was, which made her laugh.

“Lord, girl–I ain’t seen ya in Years!” the woman laughed, her accent every bit as thick as Jr.’s and Gary Lynn’s.

“Prolly since the last Time Jr. saw me,” Aerin chuckled. Turning since she could feel the Change in his Energy, she grinned as she said, “Love, this is yet another one of my family that might End up with us this weekend.”

The Silver Fox simply cocked a brow as he managed to lock the truck and close the back door.

“This is my Aint Laura,” she told him, her grin only widening. “She’s Daddy’s only sister.”

“A pleasure to meetcha,” Rob said, moving to extend his hand, only to be surprised by the woman who was apparently just as Spirited as his _fiancé_.

“None of that mess, now!” the elderly woman laughed, grabbing him for a hug instead. “If what my baby brothers were telling me’s true, you’re as good as family, ya hear?”

He was sure his expression was downright surprised as it took him a moment to Return said hug, his _fiancé_ snickering.

“Clearly, you’ve never really been exposed to Southerners, love,” Aerin giggled.

“Not unless ya count backstage at past shows,” the Silver Fox said, finally straightening once he was let go. “And I’m pretty sure that’s _not_ whatcha mean.”

“Now I’m kinda curious about that,” Laura said, her brows furrowed.

“Long story short till we grab a shower and some coffee, I’ve been in a band for nearly forty Years,” Rob chuckled. “Been all over the World prolly five Times over on various tours, so I’ve been _to_ the South plenty of Times–just never really interacted with the locals much.”

The elderly woman laughed as she preceded them into the main house, seemingly not even paying attention to how they were dressed. Course, the same couldn’t be said for the rest of the guys, who started whistling and Cat-calling the second they clapped eyes on them–especially when they saw Aerin’s throat. Her only response as she headed through the kitchen to the hall that led to the bathroom and all the bedrooms wasta flip them off. She made sure none of the kids were looking, even though they’d no doubt that Vallon and maybe Jude woulda known the meaning of the obscene gesture, but still made it as she headed off.

Jr. and Gary Lynn chuckled as they took in their disheveled appearance, the former of the brothers knowing more about how they’d even wound up in the truck. But he struck the Silver Fox as the quiet type who wasn’t gonna spread someone else’s business like he tried to be, himself. Maybe having him as family member for however much longer they both lived wouldn’t be such a bad thing, after all.

In the bathroom, they both made quick work of stripping off their dirty clothes, Rob enjoying the view he was afforded as she bent over to start the tub. Then again, he wouldn’t deny that he enjoyed everything about his _fiancé,_ which’d been the case from the moment they’d met. He knew without question that he’d never be able to get enough of her, no matter how many Lifetimes they were together for. She was simply one-of-a-kind, and to be honest, he wasn’t entirely sure she’d ever be recreated in another Lifetime.

After enjoying a shower so hot, they were both a bit pink by the Time they got out, he certainly couldn’t deny that he already felt a lil better. His neck was still a bit sore from sleeping in the truck without the proper support, but he knew Aerin’d fix that pretty quickly. Between this shower and her magick hands, he knew he’d be right as Rain sooner than he wasn’t, and besides, it’d acted up worse than this before. If he could survive worse–such as when those discs’d first more or less exploded back in 2001–he could survive this without calling it much worse than a paper cut. That didn’t mean he _wanted_ to deal with the pain, if he didn’t have to, which was why the young woman never denied him a massage–even when he didn’t actually ask for one.

“All right–Time for some Rob Jello,” she snickered as she climbed up on the couch so she could sit on the back of it.

“Whas that supposed to mean, Auntie Aerin?” Lucy was the only band child that called her that, but she didn’t necessarily mind since she might as well be their aunt.

“That I’ma turn Uncle Rob into Jello with what we like to call my _magick hands,”_ Aerin laughed, jerking him down so he was settled between her legs.

“Yeah, I bet those hands _are_ magick,” the vocalist chuckled.

“Not like that, jerk!” the young woman said, tying her _fiancé’s_ hair up so it was outta the way. “If _that_ was the case, not even Aint Laura coulda gotten us outta the truck yet.”

“So, she’s _really_ your grampa’s sister?” CC looked as curious as even her best friends, who were working on breakfast for everyone.

“Only one he ever had to my Knowledge,” she answered. “I wanna say there were nine or ten boys, and she was the only girl outta the group.”

“You’re right about that,” Laura said, nodding as she sat at the table with her own husband, Tommy. “There were so many boys, it was hard to keep up with ’em all.”

“Till they gotcha with the electric fence–or earnedja a butt-bustin’ for somethin’ ya didn’t even do,” Aerin snickered as she started digging her thumbs into the back of her _fiancé’s_ neck.

Laughing, her aunt agreed that it was pretty easy to figure out which brother was which when they’d do something like that. Each of them’d their own signature ways of getting her in trouble for shit she hadn’t done, but there were a few things–like the electric fence she’d mentioned–where several of them’d gang up on her. That one made it harder to tell exactly who the mastermind was, as many of them as there’d been all totaled up.

Even Rob looked curious as to what the related women meant, despite the pleasured groan he let out as he started to somewhat melt at what the hands on his neck and shoulders were doing to him. The elderly woman didn’t even try to bite back a grin as she recalled how several of her brothers–which’d included Bob–had started rerouting the electric fence line one Time when they were kids. This was back when the dishwater still had to be tossed out, and they ran it alongside the back porch outside the kitchen where she’d dump it. No matter how many Times she got shocked, her mother didn’t believe her–till they switched places one Day.

The guys and Aidan all cracked up at the Thought of Elsie going to dump her dishwater and winding up getting shocked when she did. What was even funnier to even the kids was trying to imagine her chasing her boys down to bust their butts while their lone sister sat back with a smug grin. But that wasn’t the only funny story she’d to tell of her childhood decades ago, about the Time even the Silver Fox’s parents woulda been kids, ’cuz there were tales aplenty.

Another one of the favorites was how her brothers’d climb high enough into Trees that they couldn’t been seen before taking a shit on someone. Usually, that occurred at the bus stop when they’d have plenty of targetsta aim for–which she never was, ’cuz she’d sense enough not to stand under the Trees where they could make her one. One of Aerin’s personal favorites, though, was how–when she was in high school–her aunt’d left some girl she’d fought with standing in the middle of the football field in nothing but her skivvies. Now the origin of her Spirited, _take-no-shit_ personality started to become a lil clearer–but also made them realize just how _lil_ she was one to be messed with, too.

“I definitely admit I’m more like the tales of all the boys make ’em out to be,” she said with a grin as she pulled her limp man backward so his head just flopped in her lap.

“Ya get that from your pappaw, girl,” Laura chuckled. “Man was forever pickin’ up whatever was closest and beatin’ the snot outta those he fought with.”

“He told me as much a few Times,” the young woman agreed. “I just never bothered tellin’ _these_ fools that so I could keep ’em on their toes.”

“Not that you’ve ever really told us _much_ about your family till recently,” Ash said, a smirk playing at his lips, despite his mildly admonishing tone. “Rob knew the most outta all of us, and even then, it seems like he didn’t know that much.”

Said Silver Fox peeked out through one eye and attempted a _so-so_ hand motion, but was simply too relaxed to truly manage it.

“Chu really _did_ turn him into Jello, Auntie Aerin!” the lone girl giggled.

“I’d rather him be this relaxed than in pain from his neck acting up,” Aerin chuckled, gently untying his hair to get rid of the man-bun she’d put it in.

“Even if him zipper bulge’s bigger now?” she asked with another giggle.

Rob’s face and neck turned Beet-red as he quickly crossed his legsta hide what the lil girl was talking about. “No comment, girlie.”

“See, this is why I’d rather move back to the country–we’d have more than enough placesta hide so ya wouldn’t have to worry ’bout that,” the young woman laughed. “Or even clothes, for that matter.”

“Hush, woman, before I get _you_ with the Pop Rocks again,” he grumbled.

“You’re just threatening me with a _day-um_ good Time, love,” Aerin told him. “’Cuz it ain’t much of a punishment, if I enjoy it.”

“Zip it before I drag ya back out to the truck,” the Silver Fox chuckled. “But yeah, even _I’m_ thinking moving out to the country’s not a half-bad idea.”

“That’s saying something, coming from a Beach bum like you,” Bret laughed.

“What can I say? It’s peaceful out here, and I know I’m never gonna get _her_ down to Florida long-term.” Rob shrugged. “Since I sold my Utah house and restaurant after that shutdown last Year, it’s not like I couldn’t afford to move up here.”

As the younger bassist and his girlfriend finally started passing out plates, Gary Lynn was the one to speak up on that topic. Unless it’d been sold in the last twenty-four hours or so, there was a house in a nearby Town that–in his opinion–was prolly more suited to somewhere right around Dollywood than not. It was way too ritzy for these parts, yet someone’d decided to build it out here in the middle of open fields, anywhore.

That caught both bassists’ attention, although for drastically different reasons since one was truly wanting to move while the other just liked taking Inspiration from other finished houses. But as it turned out, the elderly brothers happened to be friends with the Realtor who’d listed the place in question. They’d have to make a quick check to make sure it hadn’t already been sold, even though they were pretty sure that wasn’t the case. As long as it was still listed, they didn’t mind taking them to see the place since they often helped their buddy out by doing a few private tours when he was unavailable.

Once everybody was done eating, they all decided to load up–even Tommy and Laura–so they could go see the house in question. Even Jr. was quick to warn them that the reason it hadn’t sold yet was ’cuz it was listed for roughly a mil and a-half, which was insanely high for the area, as far as he was concerned. His older sister and younger brother–the latter especially–agreed with him, but they said that wasn’t a problem for them. After all, both men’d more than enough money to afford it–it’d just depend on whether it fit their needs or not.


	35. Thirty-Four

The place that they wound up following the Crosswhite siblings to was actually closer to Knoxville than they’d thought it’d be. It was on the North side of I-seventy-five from a place called Lenoir City, within five miles of the closest Walmart and ten of the forty/seventy-five split. That actually put them about twenty miles outside Downtown Knoxville, which meant they were kinda out in the boonies, but not nearly as much as when they were in Decatur. Course, if they were honest with themselves, that was _still_ a lil too closeta civilization for Aerin’s Comfort since she was trying to get _away_ from the humanity she hated.

But regardless of the exact location of the house, they could all see what Jr. and Gary Lynn’d meant as soon as they pulled into the driveway behind them. Settled at the End of an easily six hundred-foot, paved driveway that put them about halfway between the road and a small Creek that ran on the back side of the property, the place was definitely high-End. The style of its architecture–which appeared to include a brick front, if nothing else–made it look almost like a fort or Castle from Medieval Europe. Being on a slight Hill–no doubt to bury shit like the septic tank–made the young woman scrunch her nose as they got out, if only ’cuz of the fact that that was one more staircase for her to argue with unless there was a side entrance or something. If there was a side entrance from the car port on the right side of the house, it might actually be a contender for them.

“Yeah, I’m not exactly liking those stairs, either,” Rob said, chuckling when he saw the look on her face.

“Their rise ain’t as high as it could be, but we’re not surprised,” his younger equivalent laughed as he gestured between himself and his girlfriend.

“Y’all got somethin’ against stairs?” Gary Lynn chuckled.

“Bum knee for me, rheumatoid arthritis for her,” he answered, wrapping an arm around his _fiancé’s_ shoulders. “You do the math.”

“Ouch.” Even his older brother winced sympathetically. “Well, if it winds up being a contender for y’all, there’s a feature _I_ find kinda silly, but’ll work out well for y’all.”

“Then lead us in,” Aerin laughed, gesturing for them to do just that.

“Let’s stick with the side door just to make it that much easier on y’all,” the younger of the brothers said. “Not to mention anyone else with joint problems, like our sister.”

Laura simply grinned as they followed him up to the small porch outside what he said was the side door, which was just off the driveway and car port.

Said door opened into what her uncles both said was supposed to be a hallway, but the young woman considered more of a mud room than not. It wasn’t exactly long enough for her to think of it as a hallway, even though it bridged the gap in between what appeared to be the kitchen and dining room. Turning to their left, they said that they were most definitely looking at the formal dining room, which was currently outfitted with a six-person table and sideboard, but could easily seat at least a dozen.

Across the room, there was an archway twice as wide as the one that led to the mud room area, but this one opened into the actual foyer. The foyer opened into another hallway that somehow seemed more like a hallway than the other one they’d first walked into. Immediately to their left after stepping through the archway that led into it, there was what seemed like an alcove that led to another door.

Grinning, Gary Lynn said that led to the master suite, which he personally wanted to wait till last for unless they just wanted to make a giant loop of the house. Rob was kinda curious about the master suite, if only ’cuz he wanted to see where he’d wind up sleeping, if he were to actually buy this house. He was a bit surprised when they were led into a room easily big enough for a King- or California-King bed, plus a lil sitting area. What he _didn’t_ see was any kinda door that mighta led to the closet since there was a double set of doors, but he’d yet to see an entranceta even a bathroom. But that was where the group was about to get their first surprise and see why they said the house was prolly better suited to the Dollywood area.

Behind those double doors was a bathroom definitely befitting of a house that actually prolly belonged more like somewhere like Beverly Hills. From the Stone counter of what coulda been a triple vanity–if it’d more than two sinks–to the Stone tile on the floor, all three sides of the tub that didn’t face the room, and the tub’s surround, it was definitely a lavish room. And that wasn’t counting all the Stone tile that continued into the shower, which’d a floor made of Stone tile that looked like it woulda been used for mosaic pieces. However, straight in front of the bathroom’s entrance was the closet he’d been wondering about, which caught Ash’s attention.

 _“Oooo…kaaaay,”_ he said, his eyes widening once he stepped in to take a peek. “Aidan, sugar–I’m sorry to say it, but I’m not in Love with ya anymore.”

“Oh, really?” the ginger chuckled, already having a good idea of where he was going with this. “And why, pray tell, didja fall outta Love with me?”

“’Cuz I just fell _in_ Love with this closet!” Ash laughed. “This thing’s _huge!”_

“Okay, yeah–it’s definitely bigger than even your average walk-in closet,” Rikki chuckled once he took a peek for himself. “But something tells me it wouldn’t sustain ya quite the way Aidan does.”

“I don’t think a closet’s gonna feedja, man,” the shortest blonde agreed with a grin. “And I’m pretty sure you’re gonna get pretty bored with it after a while, hint hint.”

“I think I could spend the rest of my Life in this closet and be perfectly entertained,” he retorted as he stepped back into the bathroom. “Then again, the hardwood’s not gonna be as soft and warm as my woman.”

“Prolly not, ya goof,” Aerin told him as he grabbed the woman in question, then turned to her uncle. “I’m assuming one of these lil doors is hiding the toilet?”

“Yeah, it’s in its own lil Water closet,” he answered, nodding. “Never quite saw the point of that myself, but hey, to each their own.”

“’Cuz sometimes ya gotta be in the bathroom at the same Time as your man, and I ain’t met a woman yet who wanted her nose assaulted like _that,”_ the young woman laughed.

Rob didn’t even try to deny the Truth behind her words.

“Oh, wipe that smirk off your face, love,” she laughed. _“You_ stink as bad as _Daddy_ did, and that man quite literally ran me outta the house with a fart, alone one Time!”

“Your fault for listening to the doctor on that one, sweetheart,” the Silver Fox retorted, his smirk morphing into a grin. “I toldja, I don’t like Broccoli _and_ it makes it worse.”

“I think I’d rather have to fumigate the house, if it means your guts stay where they belong,” Aerin told him, rolling her eyes as she gave his belly a gentle pat.

Remarking on how he’d ask about that later on, Gary Lynn led them back to the front hall, where she took notice of a lil panel on the wall. Considering that it was lit up with the number one, she was pretty sure she’d a good idea of what it belonged to, but decided not to mention it just yet. If she was right, she didn’t wanna spoil the surprise her uncle’d mentioned since he obviously wasn’t ready to mention it yet.

Across from the white door to the left of that lil panel, there was what turned out to be a lil powder room, and based on the angle of the ceiling, she’d bet it was under the stairs. No doubt anyone any of the guys’ heights with the exception of maybe CC’d have to watch how they stood up from the toilet, which prolly shoulda been put where the sink was. They’d be banging the wrong head against a wall, as it were, if they stood up too fast or without watching what they were doing due to the low ceiling. But she couldn’t stand the wallpaper, which wasn’t quite Zebra-print, but might as well’ve been, as far as she was concerned.

Continuing down the rest of the hall from the powder room led them into a literal chef’s kitchen, which she could already see both bassists practically drooling over. The young woman wasn’t surprised by her own man’s reaction–after all, he loved to cook so much that he’d opened up a restaurant. His _not_ damn near having an immaculate orgasm from the size of this room–even if she didn’t exactly like the almost entirely-white Color scheme–woulda been more of a surprise than him damn near having one.

“Well, _somebody’s_ liking the kitchen,” Laura laughed as she noted their expressions.

“Hey, I wasn’t kidding about selling a restaurant after last Year’s shutdown,” the Silver Fox said, starting to snap outta it. “I’ve always loved to cook so much that I opened the place back in the nineties between albums, and if it weren’t for that shutdown, I’d still have it open.”

“Not saying _I don’t_ like to cook, but prolly not as much as he does,” Ash chuckled. “I really only got into it once I went vegan and kinda _had_ to start familiarizing myself with alternative recipes.”

“I’m liking how it opens into an equally-massive living room,” the ginger spoke up. “I mean, look at all the room in here, and how it overlooks the patio.”

“Which’s just as big in its own right,” Rob agreed. “We could prolly fit all of Poison–even past members–Ash’s old band, _and_ our various family and significant others in the kitchen, living room, and on the patio, and _still_ prolly have room to spare.”

“I wouldn’t bother inviting my old band, but yeah–just using them for a body count, you’re right about that,” his younger equivalent said.

The Crosswhite siblings all cocked a brow at him curiously, which made him chuckle.

“Let’s just say that CC can back me up when I say being forcibly outed from something ya dumped half your Life into ain’t fun,” he told them. “Aidan could tie me to a roasting spit and roast me alive, and it _still_ wouldn’t convince me to invite _those_ idgits and their girlsta my house.”

“Sounds like some bad blood there, boy,” Tommy finally spoke up. “Not exactly something ya wanna die with still on your plate.”

“Eh, I’m more or less indifferent to most of my former band mates,” Ash corrected himself. “Depends on exactly which one we’re talking about. But the last one–well, he can go have a couple ribs removed like Marilyn Manson was rumored to, for all I care, hint hint.”

Aerin snickered and covered Lucy’s ears, which made Rikki and Bret do the same with Jude and Jorja. “He was trying to be polite about saying he could go suck his own dick for once.”

The entire group cracked up as they headed back into the kitchen, where Rob’s attention was quickly caught by something on the far side of the kitchen. Upon closer inspection, he realized that it was a small room that was currently being used as an office, but was prolly originally Intended to be a pantry. It turned out to technically be another hallway with yet another side door, the laundry room being off the back side of it so that it was easily accessible, but tucked outta the way.

Now that they’d covered the entirety of the first floor without worrying about shit like coat closets, it was Time to check out the upstairs. Other than the master suite, that’s where all the other bedrooms and bathrooms were, and that wasn’t including a second living Space technically entitled a family room. Aerin certainly wasn’t looking forward to trekking up the stairs, her uncles snagging her attention as she groaned.

Even Jr. grinned as they waved her and her _fiancé_ both back into the front hall, where they opened one of the doors next to that panel she’d seen earlier. The young woman couldn’t help a laugh any more than said _fiancé,_ who gently pushed her into the opening revealed. Moments later, they could feel themselves rising before the elevator they’d stepped into stopped on the second floor. They were quick to send it back down for her aunt and uncles, careful to keep their steps relatively Silent as they moved over to a lil seating area that overlooked the staircase kinda like a balcony. Both simply lounged on the couch was was set up there, Rob’s hands laced behind his head and an ankle resting on the opposite knee.

The rest of their group seemed surprised when they got to the top of the stairs and saw them lounging like they’d been there all Day. Bret couldn’t help asking how on Earth they’d gotten up here so quick without being seen, which was when Tommy and the Crosswhite siblings stepped into view. It took a few moments for the surpriseta wear off, but everyone eventually burst into laughter as they realized the house actually had an elevator hidden right in plain sight. Such a thing was definitely more common in homes out West, or otherwise owned by the filthy rich, rather than someone more middle-class or under.

“Okay, that’s pretty cool,” the younger bassist chuckled once he’d Calmed down enough. “Never actually been in a house quite _that_ fancy till now.”

“It’d definitely make me reconsider this place as an option a bit, but I’d still rather have single-story,” Aerin admitted. “When I say I don’t get along with stairs and they don’t get along with me, that includes porch stairs.”

“In total agreement with ya there, sweetheart,” her _fiancé_ said, nodding. “Yeah, an elevator’d make it a lot easier to come up and kick Zach’s and Zoe’s asses till they found their own places, but what about _after_ they moved out? I’d never have a use for it anymore.”

“And I’d never have one to start with unless we’d some happy accidents,” the young woman agreed.

“Well, y’all’re technically in the study right now, so ya would, if ya actually used it as such,” Gary Lynn chuckled. “Straight across is the first bathroom, which opens into the bedroom next to it, too.”

Heaving themselves up off the couch, they headed over to take a look at what he meant.

“Looks like it could be a good guest suite,” Aerin mused. “That, or it’d be one of his kids’ rooms so they wouldn’t wind up sharing a bathroom.”

“Which’d be the case with these two bedrooms over here,” Jr. said, pointing to their right. “On the other side of that wall there’s a bathroom that spans the length of the hall.”

“Bets on it being _Jack-and-Jill,_ love?” she asked with a smirk.

“I think I’ll keep my money, thanks,” Rob laughed. “’Cuz I get the feeling that’s one bet I’ma lose, if I take it.”

Sure enough, the pair of bedrooms in question were interconnected with a _Jack-and-Jill_ -style bathroom, although it certainly wasn’t like a Traditional one. It seemed that each bedroom’d its own powder room of sorts, what with there being individual sinks and toilets paired together on either End. The shared tub/shower combo was right in the middle of the two powder rooms, an extra vanity full of storage right across from it. Luckily, there were what the young woman called _pocket doors_ that slid out to ensure privacy for anyone who happened to be showering–or even using either powder room–from their neighbor.

After viewing the pair of bedrooms that were big enough to fit at least a Queen-size bed apiece, they headed back out to the stair landing. From there, they headed down the hallway that actually led to the other interconnected bed- and bathroom, that particular bedroom being big enough for a King-size bed. Not quite directly across from it, there was a door that led to a storage room, which was right behind the elevator shaft.

Once they reached the End of the hall, Gary Lynn led them into a room that was currently the family room, but could honestly be used for just about anything. It could be turned into yet another guest room–even though it wouldn’t have even its own powder room–or a playroom, should any of those _happy accidents_ happen. Aerin wasn’t too keen on the painted brick that made up the wall the doorway opened up from, although she didn’t seem to mind it being sunken from the rest of the upper level by a couple steps.

Heading back to the staircase and elevator so they could go back downstairs, she said that while the house was certainly beautiful, it wasn’t exactly her style. Rob was quick to agree, saying that he’d prefer something more laid-back–not to mention single-story, as previously mentioned–like his current house in Florida. Granted, that prompted him into showing the brothers a few pictures of said current house, but he didn’t mind doing so. None of them were expecting their facesta Light up as they said there was actually another listing not far Southwest of the neighboring Town of Loudon that might fit them better. They certainly weren’t expecting Ash to say he’d take this place, if they weren’t, ’cuz it’d be about the only way he’d be talked into moving out to the country, considering where he’d grown up.

Deciding that he’d definitely leave this placeta his younger equivalent, if he really wanted it, the Silver Fox admitted that he was more interested in that more relaxed listing. If it was actually a single-story house like he and his _fiancé_ were both wanting, it’d definitely work out better for them. He just hoped that it really _was_ as laid-back and relaxed as the brothers swore it was, even if it wasn’t exactly like his current home. Not only that, but he was hoping for significantly cheaper, even though he could still afford even a place like this. He’d never denied having tighter purse strings than his band mates, and he wasn’t about to start now as they started piling back into trucks so they could head out to view it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so here's a link to the listing that's all but stolen Ash's heart in this chapter. Yes, I know it's outta Nashville, folks–use your Imaginations! LOL! The part of Tenn that I Intend it to be in for purposes of the story's a lot like how I've heard the Texas Hill Country described–flat, open fields in a lotta places and just as many Trees in others. The further East ya go, the more ya get into the Tenn side of the Appalachian Foothills, so some places've a lot more Hills–or outright Mountains–than others. Google Earth can only show ya so much, or I'd tell folksta just use that for a better idea, if they've never been in person like I have several Times.  
> ~Firefly
> 
> Link to House of Ash's Interest–https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1320-Duncanwood-Ct-Nashville-TN-37204/121231775_zpid/?


	36. Thirty-Five

Almost within spitting distance of a haunted house attraction called _Dead Man’s Farm_ not quite at the corner of State Highway Two–better known as Lee Highway–and Calloway Road, Gary Lynn finally threw on his turn signal. The house that all but sat on the horizon, it was set so far back from the road appeared laid-back due to its brick exterior, but definitely ritzier as they got closer. Rob couldn’t help a soft chuckle as his _fiancé_ gasped in the passenger’s seat next to him, which made him glad he was the one driving this Time.

It appeared that after taking a left-hand turn and crossing over a lil ditch or Stream, the paved driveway continued to right in front of the front door. There, it Ended in a sorta loop that reminded him almost of a cul-de-sac, just with what looked like a traffic island in the middle of it. But it offered pretty easy accessta the garage, which sat on the other side of that lil Stream from the house itself. He wasn’t too sure how he felt about having to drive over a Bridge just to get to his front door, or walk across one to take what appeared to be a breezeway into the house, but he felt it could grow on him. Judging by her stunned reaction, he’d lay his money on Aerin not even caring about that as much as she cared about the house, itself and the landscaping.

Climbing outta their trucks once everybody was parked, they saw several lil flowerbed-like areas that were already filled with lush landscaping. The Silver Fox couldn’t readily identify any of the plants, if only ’cuz they weren’t native to Florida or anywhere else he’d lived, but they were beautiful all the same. His _fiancé’s_ uncle grinned as he said that if they liked this front yard this much, just wait till they moved on to the _back_ yard.

Like the last house they’d gone to view–which Ash’d actually put in an offer on as they drove over here–this place was built on a slight Hill. No doubt the ground had been built up to bury shit like the septic tank again, considering they were far enough out into the country that they wouldn’t have a sewer system available to them. That also meant there was most likely a Well somewhere on the property they’d have to monitor that gave the house its Water supply. But unlike that first house, the stairs that led up to this one’s front door weren’t exactly stairs, in his personal opinion.

Built outta the same red brick that started the walkway at the edge of the driveway, made up what Rob’d have to call a retaining wall on either side of the stairs, and constructed the actual house, they weren’t very high. Just by looking at them, he’d have to say the rise of each one was maybe two bricks thick in height, while what his _fiancé_ and younger equivalent called their run spanned about four bricks turned long-ways. They might be a bit tricky for someone like a toddler just learning how to walk to navigate, but since there weren’t any toddlersta worry about, he didn’t consider that a problem. As long as the porch Light shone far enough down the walkway, even he’d be able to manage it at the Darkest Time of Day or Night without tripping and busting his ass–or any other body parts.

“I think I’m already in Love, and I haven’t even seen the interior yet,” Aerin sighed as they followed her uncles up to the front door.

“I should hope _I_ still top your list,” the Silver Fox chuckled. “’Cuz even though I’m loving the place already, too, I still love _you_ more.”

“Well, _duuuuhhhh,”_ she laughed. “I thought that was a given and didn’t _need_ to be said.”

“It’s still reassuring to actually hear it,” Rob retorted with a grin.

“Well, right inside this door, we’ve the foyer,” Gary Lynn told them, opening said front door. “Nothing over-the-top or dramatic enough for a massive staircase or anything–it’s actually a lot like the foyer at the last place.”

“Ugh, it’d have to be repainted as soon as we moved in,” the young woman said as she walked in, scrunching her nose. “Ask Ash how I put my foot down on a too-bright foyer at the house we live in in Nashville.”

“Aw, man–is she ever _not_ kidding,” Ash laughed, pulling his phone outta his pocket. “Here’s a picture of it when _I_ first moved in a few Years before I met her, when it was pretty much stark-white, and what it wound up looking like _after_ we redecorated not long after _she_ moved in with me.”

Tommy and the Crosswhite siblings took a look at the pictures he showed them, and they were all struck by the Beauty of his current foyer, alone.

“Is it gray now?” Jr. asked, readjusting his glasses. “Or are my old eyes playing tricks on me?”

“The paint Color’s actually called _Monorail Silver,”_ the young woman answered. “White’s too bright for _my_ eyesta handle, but he refused to lemme paint anything but a couple accent walls in various rooms black, so we compromised at a Light shade of gray.”

“This Color actually spans through the up- and downstairs hallways, as well as the majority of the living room,” he told them. “And when she says _accent walls_ –well, she ain’t kidding about them being accents.”

The younger bassist pulled up another picture of the walls where his fireplace and TV were, which rose all the way up to the ceiling over the open second story. Said wall was painted a shade of red that was a hair brighter than that of the formal dining room like Aerin swore had been done in a house she’d lived in as a child. It was just the right amount of dramatic to be eye-catching, but not as overwhelming as it woulda been, had the entire room been painted that Color from top to bottom.

Continuing with their current tour, they saw what appeared to be a den or something along those lines through an archway immediately to their right. That’d be a great placeta set up an office, if Rob ever decided to take his chances with opening up a restaurant again once he’d moved up here and gotten settled. At least he’d have a Spaceta set up a computer for things like payroll, not to mention store important documents that pertained to the house and restaurant alike. If it never got used as that, it could make a pretty good practice Space for when he felt like jamming, which could otherwise just be used for storing their collective instruments. To be quite honest, it was even big enough to house a drum kit for when Rikki visited, if they wanted to do that, too.

At the End of the foyer was an archway that opened into a fairly spacious formal living room, which overlooked what was obviously the back porch and complete with a fireplace. From what they could tell already, the view to the back yard might be a bit obstructed, but nothing _too_ terrible. However, they could also tell that the back yard was far more beautiful than they’d imagined, and they couldn’t even see the whole thing yet.

To their right across from said fireplace, yet another archway opened into a lil breakfast nook that connected to the kitchen. It appeared that whoever’d designed this house was of much the same opinion that Aerin was–too many walls were bad, but open-concept wasn’t always the best thing, either. And while the kitchen might not be a chef’s kitchen like the first house’s, it was big enough to suit the Silver Fox’s tastes. He’d enough counter and storage Space that it wouldn’t drive him nuts, but it wasn’t so big that he’d feel overwhelmed and like he was back in the kitchen of the restaurant he’d sold.

“Okay, I can’t stand all the subway tile on the wall behind the sink and stove, but I’d leave tearing that out and replacing it up to Rob,” the young woman laughed. “I might be a lil more into cooking than I used to be, but I still consider the kitchen _his_ domain.”

“Yeah, I’m not too crazy about it, either,” he agreed. “Looks too predictable and plain to me.”

“Hence why I like a herringbone pattern–like how the brick right over the front door was done outside,” Aerin said. “Not too wild and flashy, but gives some variety.”

“Ya sure know your stuff, girl,” CC chuckled.

“Watched too much shit like all the _Crashers_ shows on HGTV and DIY before I fled North Carolina,” she told him with a grin. “Add in watching Vanilla Ice’s show for some of the more upscale elements, and I’ve a bit of a weird style that actually works out in most cases.”

“Wait, Vanilla Ice?” Bret looked surprised. “I thoughtcha didn’t like rap and hip-hop.”

“And I don’t, when it comesta my Music tastes,” the young woman admitted. “But go look up _The Vanilla Ice Project_ sometime, and you’ll see what I mean by he’s a high-End style, but it’s fuckin’ gorgeous.”

“Might have to do that, myself sometime,” her _fiancé_ mused. “’Cuz if I get this place, we’re _definitely_ doing some redecorating almost right off the bat.”

Letting out a laugh, the younger of Aerin’s blood uncles turned their attention to a doorway next to the counter that housed the stove. It turned out to open into the formal dining room, which they’d caught a glimpse of from the far side of the den when they’d first walked in. Said dining room wasn’t nearly as big as the one in the first house they’d viewed, but more along the lines of what they’d need, if they ever actually used it.

On the far side of the kitchen, there was a hallway that opened into something along the lines of a butler’s pantry and laundry room. There were three more doors that opened into that back hall, one of which Gary Lynn said led to the breezeway that’d take them to the garage. The second door was the one that opened into the master suite, and the couple even considering this place as a home were definitely curious about that. He didn’t even try to hide his grin as he led them into the bedroom in question, which overlooked the driveway at the front of the house.

Definitely big enough for even a California-King bed, the master bedroom sported what appeared to be a set of built-ins on either side of the door. These could easily be used as dressers, which’d be one–actually _two_ –less pieces of furniture for the couple to have to move. One of said built-ins was even big enough that it currently housed a flat-screen TV, which’d be good if they decided to actually have a TV in their bedroom. But turning to their right, they saw what’d to be his-and-hers closets flanking either side of the bathroom door.

Straight in front of said bathroom door, there was a tub big enough for at least two set back in a lil niche and pretty much entirely surrounded by Stone tile. A huge mirror was mounted on the wall to its left as viewed from this Direction, and the bottom of its base sported relatively simply paneling. To either side of the door was a separate vanity, which’d its own storage Space beneath the counter and up the wall beside each sink. The shower was across from what’d most likely be Rob’s vanity, said shower sporting a built-in bench for anyone who needed it. On the other side of the tub was a lil Water closet that housed the toilet, which made Aerin’s heart practically sing the _Hallelujah Chorus_.

“So, what other Spaces are there?” Ash asked. “’Cuz judging by the exterior, there’s no way this is it.”

“There’s two more bedrooms on the other side of the house,” Gary Lynn answered. “Each’s its own bathroom, so I guess ya could say they’re technically suites.”

“Well, on the _first_ floor, that is,” his older brother added.

“Wait, I thought this was a single-story house,” the lead guitarist said.

“Finished attic Space upstairs, basement downstairs,” he chuckled. “If they don’t wanna use it, they don’t have to since the main living Spaces’re here on the first floor.”

 _“Ahhhh,_ makes sense,” the drummer mused, nodding.

“The first bedroom off the formal living room’s its own built-ins, too, and overlooks the other End of the driveway,” his younger brother told them, leading them across the house. “Really only big enough for a Twin up to a Queen, but good enough for a nursery or guest room.”

“Prolly a guest room since–like I already said–I don’t particularly want kids,” Aerin chuckled. “Besides, even if I _did_ want any, who says _Rob_ wants more?”

“Seriously, considering the two I’ve got’re _her_ age, give or take,” the Silver Fox agreed. “I mean, I wouldn’t demand she get any abortion any more than she’d actually do it, if she turned up pregnant, but I’m not gonna actively try to conceive, either.”

“Fair enough,” Gary Lynn said. “I just meant that the room could work as a nursery since ya might get a crib or two–or even a toddler bed or two–in here, but not much beyond that if you’re gonna use it as a guest room.”

“Personally, I’d rather the nursery be closer to the master suite, if we ever wind up having kids,” the young woman said. “Less Spaceta navigate in the middle of the Night to answer a crying baby, which means less shit to possibly trip over in my rushta get there.”

Nodding as he opened the double doors that led into the guest room-slash-nursery, he let the group take turns getting a good look at it. That included the adjoining bathroom, which sported its own single vanity, toilet, and tub/shower combo, rather than a separate tub and shower. After that, the only room on this level was the third bedroom across the hall, which overlooked more of the back yard.

Said bedroom was big enough to sport either Twin beds on either side of the door, or a Queen-size bed Centered under the window on the back wall. On the right side of the room, there was a door that opened into a closet roughly the same size as the one in the first guest room across the hall. It was no doubt situated in more or less the same spot where the guts of the fireplace woulda been, just off to one side of them, considering its position. The second door across from the closet opened into a bathroom that was pretty much a mirror-image of the guest bathroom across the hall.

After viewing these two bedrooms, Gary Lynn left it up to the couple whether they wanted to take a look at the finished basement his brother’d mentioned and the back yard. This house didn’t have an elevator like the first one did, so he knew they might not wanna fight with the stairs any more than he truly did. He was willing to take them down, if they really wanted to see it, but otherwise, they could head back out to the living room and take a Bird’s-eye look at the back yard from the porch.

The couple shared a quick look with each other before deciding that they might as well take a look at it since they were already here and gestured for him to lead the way. Nodding, the elderly man led them to a door they’d thought housed a linen closet or the Air handler for the HVAC system, but actually hid the basement stairs. Those stairs led down to a finished living area that was no doubt directly under the formal living room, given the placement of its own fireplace and the windows along the back wall. Said windows over looked what was a patio that was undoubtedly under the porch, considering how shady it appeared from this angle. Next to the fireplace was a built-in entertainment center, which’d be perfect for another TV and gaming systems.

“Damn, another Space that could be used for an office,” Rob chuckled as he turned around. “Well, that’s if Zach didn’t take over this living area so he wouldn’t drive me crazy with his video games.”

“Or it could be the Music room so ya could jam damn near as loud as ya wanna, and it wouldn’t drive _me_ crazy, if I decide not to join ya,” his _fiancé_ said with a smirk.

“That, too, sweetheart,” he agreed.

“There’s another room that branches off that office Space that can be used for a multitude of things, too,” Jr. told them. “Right now, it’s being used as a craft room, but it could be another guest room since it’s its own bathroom, too.”

“Shit, we could put one of the kids down here, and they’d damn near have their own lil apartment,” the young woman laughed. “They’d only have to come upstairsta eat and do laundry.”

“Sounds like you’re trying to be an evil stepmother and get rid of my kids,” her _fiancé_ all but cackled.

“Nah, if I was doing that, I wouldn’t be agreeable to letting ’em move in with us, if they don’t chooseta stay down in Florida,” Aerin retorted.

“Just about anything’s possible with this place,” her younger uncle told them. “Including throwing a party in the landscaped part of the back yard.”

Leading them out the door that led to the patio under the back porch, he wasn’t surprised by the cacophony of surprised gasps that rang out. The patio was made of what looked like cobblestone made with pebbles, which were about the same Color as the flagstone that made up the various paths that criss-crossed the back yard and uncovered entertainment areas. It was flanked by a retaining wall made of the same brick as the house on one End, that retaining wall stair-stepping its way down to the flagstone path from there.

On the End of the patio where the retaining wall was, they saw a shorter staircase that obviously led down from the back porch. Across from it was another that also led down from said porch, but was longer since it’d a bigger distanceta span to reach the back yard. Heading up the flagstone path–which’d three steps total due to how the back yard was sloped–they came to a decent-sized pool.

They’d walked up on the deep End, which flowed into what could be called a Fountain via an Infinity edge, a pile of rocksta either side of it. Said rocks were piled up in a way that looked like they’d been put there by Nature, not man, which appealed to the young woman’s Inner Witch. At the shallow End of the pool–which butted almost up against the house–which was another pile of rocks that also looked as if they’d been put there by Nature. However, this pile was actually a man-made Waterfall that babbled almost like the lil Stream that ran through the property no doubt did. It was certainly a place where she could relax and recharge, which she’d a feeling Rob’d agree with wholeheartedly.

But it was the grassy spot directly across from the deep End of the pool and its Fountain that caught and held Aerin’s attention more than any other part of the back yard. Kicking off her boots, she headed down the trio of stairs that led down from the patio Space that flanked what’d be the left side of the pool, as viewed from the back porch. Almost as soon as she stepped into the grass, she was overcome with a sensation that she’d gotten from only a couple other places, one of which was her Sacred Circle at Ash’s house. She almost immediately moved into the stance she took when she was Grounding and Centering, her arms quickly rising.

“What the…?” Gary Lynn started to ask, only to get cut off by the Silver Fox miming slitting his throat.

“Don’t mess with her,” he warned him. “The attitude you’ll get won’t be worth it.”

“She’s found the spot for her Sacred Circle, if y’all get this place,” his younger equivalent chuckled, careful to keep his volume down.

“Sacred Circle?” Even Jr. looked confused as he and his siblings cocked their brows at him.

“Remember what she was telling ya about being Pagan before she started drinking last Night?” he countered.

“Yeah, I remember,” the older of the brothers answered with a nod.

“Grounding and Centering for her’s kinda like going to church for you,” Ash explained. “It’s her way of reconnecting with the Earth and its Energy like listening to a sermon’s your way of reconnecting with your God.”

 _“Ahhhh,_ I gotcha now,” he said, nodding again as even his siblings looked a lil more Enlightened.

“Trust us when we say she’ll feel ten Times better once she’s done,” Rob told them. “She’ll be a lot Calmer, not to mention less scatter-brained, for lack of a better way to put it.”

“I’m guessing she’s a spot she does this at home?” Jr. asked curiously.

“She does, yeah,” he answered. “You’ll see it this weekend since ya said you’re planning on coming out to Nashville, now that you’ve been invited.”

“Wait, y’all’re tying the knot this weekend?” Laura seemed surprised, considering her brothers’d told her they’d only recently gotten engaged.

“Thor’s Day, Frigga’s Day, and Saturn’s Day, as she calls them, are already hard enough for her to get through ’cuz of their significanceta her,” the Silver Fox explained. “If I can give her some good memories for at least Saturn’s Day, then damn it, I’ma do it.”

“Why not wait till next Year so you’ve more Time to plan, though?” she asked curiously.

“’Cuz winding up in the hospital with something that coulda killed me a lil over a month ago made me realize I may never have that kinda Time _to_ waste,” Rob answered. “With me being not quite thirty Years older than her already, I’m definitely not willing to waste that kinda Time on something we don’t really wanna plan out, anywhore.”

As he watched his _fiancé_ Ground and Center herself, he explained what’d happened to him in as lil detail as possible so he wouldn’t gross Tommy and the siblings out. Once they’d been brought up to speed on that, he explained how they’d both agreed that the smaller the crowd at their handfasting, the better. Even _he_ really only wanted those closest to both of them there when one didn’t count the leader of a Coven her mother’d once been a part of that Aerin’d contacted about officiating said handfasting.

Since they were going for pretty simple, all they really had to do was get those they wanted to witness such a ceremony gathered in the same place at the same Time. Catering could be handled by himself and Ash, and even Aidan could pitch in with that part, if she wasn’t helping the bride-to-be get ready. The guys, their kids, and any of the younger bassist’s friends she’d befriended enough to invite could handle setting up and decorating the back yard for said ceremony, so he wasn’t particularly worried about that part, either. He was more concerned with how he was gonna abide by the Tradition of not seeing his bride before the actual ceremony–and not ’cuz he wanted to–unless he just hid in the basement.

Once she felt reasonably Grounded and Centered, the bride-to-be in question Returned to the rest of the group. They could already tell the difference as she pulled her boots back on, and she hadn’t exactly been high-strung when she’d first walked over to that grassy patch. Rob was just glad to see her feeling better and more relaxed, which finally sold him on putting in an offer on this place. He knew it was hard for her to find a suitable spot for a Sacred Circle, and once she did, it was best to let her have at it. If it made her happier and more comfortable, he was more than willing to pay nearly a million dollars for his next home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone who's already read the original version of this story'll prolly recognize the house as the one I picked for Ash once y'all follow the link, if y'all actually chose to. Even though it's obviously listed outta Nashville, I Changed the setting for purposes of the story like I did with the one that caught Ash's attention in the last chapter.  
> ~Firefly
> 
> Link to House of Rob's and Aerin's Interest–https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3307-Hobbs-Rd-Nashville-TN-37215/67654181_zpid/?


	37. Thirty-Six

_Nashville, Tennessee_

That Saturn’s Day, Aerin wouldn’t deny that she was beyond excited, despite the fact that she’d woken up around six in the Morn with a bit of nausea. Even though it was the seventh anniversary of her pappaw’s Death, the Day of her handfasting was finally upon them. Whether it was a bit of a sad Day for her or not, she didn’t see how anyone could be anything _but_ excited with something so special just hours away.

Peeking out her bedroom door when she heard a knock, she let a somewhat weak smile cross her face when she saw Aidan’d come up to help her get ready around eight. She and Zoe were gonna be helping Lucy and Bret’s girls get ready once the bride was dressed and otherwise ready to go. The girls in question were hiding in the family room her _fiancé’d_ almost slept in the very first Time he’d come here, their dresses already with them. Even the youngest girl’s miniature replica of the others’ bride’s maids’ dresses was hidden in that room with them as they started working on their hair and makeup.

“Hon, are ya all right?” the ginger asked as she closed the door behind her. It wasn’t hard to miss the pale, clammy complexion her friend didn’t normally have.

“Woke up nauseous,” Aerin answered, letting a soft, but distressed burp. “I guess it’s the nerves getting to me.”

“I’ve seen ya nervous before, and this doesn’t ever happen,” she argued gently.

“Yeah, and I’m not normally prepping to handfast, either,” the young woman retorted, her smile growing a bit.

“There’s something else going on, so out with it,” Aidan demanded, giving her a hard, _mother Hen_ kinda look.

“Only if you’re gonna keep your mouth shut,” she told her. “I mean, not even telling Ash, shut.”

“Ya know I can’t do that,” the ginger said. “We agreed to keep Communication open and tell each other everything.”

“Then I’m not telling even _you.”_ Aerin shrugged. “Nothing personal, but I want this kept Secret for a reason.”

Knowing her friend so well, she studied her for a few moments before her jaw dropped all the way down to her feet. “You’re shitting me!”

“Pretty sure that’s why I woke up nauseous about two hours ago,” the young woman chuckled, grimacing as her stomach twisted again. “Fuck, don’t make me laugh!”

Aidan was a bit startled when she scrambled into her bathroom moments later, where she hit her knees in front of the toilet and started dry-heaving. “Sorry, hon–I know how ya feel.”

It wasn’t till after she’d managed to stop dry-heaving that she turned a curious look up at her friend, and she couldn’t say she was expecting what she was told. Then again, she supposed finding out that the ginger was pregnant–right down to having it confirmed by her OB/GYN earlier that week once they’d gotten back home–shouldn’t be _that_ much of a surprise. She and Ash were just as–ahem, _active_ as she and her own _fiancé_ were, so it was really just a matter of Time till it happened.

Once she was feeling well enough to head back to her bathroom, her friend couldn’t resist asking how on Earth–besides the obvious, of course– _she’d_ have wound up conceiving. She knew damn good and well the other couple were just as diligent about the use of rubbers, considering Aerin wasn’t on any kinda of Birth Control and didn’t have any plansta be. As it turned out, though, she’d realized upon emptying the trash from CC’s guest room the Morn after the Silver Fox’s proposal that one of the rubbers he’d used had failed. There was an unmistakable hole in the tip that made it look like it’d exploded, which she wasn’t sure how _he_ coulda missed and woulda no doubt allowed her to conceive.

“I’d say that’s a rookie move, but it’s not like he forgot to use one at all,” Aidan laughed. “Course, then again, he prolly shoulda paid a lil better attention to how it was applied.”

“Hey, the blame can’t be laid _entirely_ on Rob for that one,” the young woman retorted. _“I_ was just as desperate and paying as lil attention to such things that Night!”

“Fair enough,” she agreed with a chuckle. “So, why exactly’re ya wanting to keep it a Secret for now?”

“Well, even though I took a pregnancy test right after I woke up nauseous and it says positive, I’ve a couple different reasons,” Aerin admitted. “Firstly, I wanna use it as a kinda handfasting present for him, which means no telling anyone who _doesn’t_ figure it out on their own.”

“All right, I can understand that,” the ginger admitted, nodding.

“Secondly, I’d three miscarriages before I ever turned twenty,” she continued. “I figure, the less people I actually tell, the less I’ll jinx myself into losing even _this_ pregnancy.”

When she thought about it like that, Aidan couldn’t really disagree with her friend, even though she wasn’t nearly as superstitious.

“That’s why I don’t wantcha telling even Ash,” the young woman said. “Not ’cuz I wantcha to violate your personal agreement with him, but…”

“Hon, I get it,” she assured her. “Kinda like I don’t want _you_ telling _my_ news since I haven’t even told him yet.”

 _“As if_ I’d do the one thing I don’t want my own friend doing!” Aerin shot back.

“Well, enough about that before we both wind up so nauseous, we can’t get this show on the road,” the ginger told her. “Let’s getcha in this dress.”

Nodding since she’d already gone down to scrounge up as Light a breakfast as she dared–which’d amazingly stayed down through her dry-heaving–she moved to start stripping. Aidan headed into her closet, where they’d hidden the gem of a dress once it’d arrived after its commission. It and the bride’s maids’ dresses’d been a rush order for the small business they’d been ordered from, but no doubt one of the biggest orders the small business’d seen in a while.

Made of a Dark purple fabric that almost looked like satin from a distance, but was actually velvet, it was fairly simplistic in style, but every bit as regal as the bride. It actually looked like something an Elvin or Medieval Noblewoman woulda worn, especially when paired with its matching hooded cloak. The way a couple of the bands of fabric criss-crossed over the chest defined Aerin’s breasts in a way that wasn’t gaudy, but’d no doubt draw attention to those particular assets. The Silver pattern that ran across those fabric bands, around the one that defined her waist, and down her hipsta just below her crotch looked almost like some kinda leafy vines, which played into her being a Witch.

The minimal rhinestone work along the waistline and the fabric that criss-crossed over and emphasized her breasts also tied into the Crown she Intended to wear nicely. Said Crown was made of what appeared to be black chrome, which complimented, yet contrasted the Silver in the dress, as well as the Metal of her engagement and Future handfasting rings. But it was also covered in more of the purple rhinestones that Graced the dress, as well as what looked like pale and medium-toned Amethyst Crystals.

It took a bit of work on both their parts so they wouldn’t have her bending in a way that set off her nausea or anything, but Aidan finally got her friend into the dress. She couldn’t help the smile that split her face when she saw her in it, thinking it just as beautiful on its equally beautiful wearer as in its garment bag. Once she got her hair styled so it’d support her Crown, she couldn’t wait to see how she and the other bride’s maids looked in their own dresses, which were pretty similar to the bride’s. The ginger just hoped that she could tame her nausea well enough that she wouldn’t puke all over the dress while she was waiting.

* * *

Down in the master suite, Rob was letting his younger equivalent help him get into his own handfasting attire, even though it was driving him a lil nuts. The black dress britches and shirt weren’t exactly much of a problem for him, nor were the black cowboy boots he insisted on wearing. It was the damned suit jacket that was more aggravating for him, but that’d been much the case when he’d gotten married back in 1989.

Made of black fabric with gray stripes that weren’t quite thin enough to be called pinstripes, its hem fell almost down to his knees. The lapels were held open to show off whatever shirt he happened to wear under it by some seriously big Silver buttons and lined in a purple rope Aidan swore matched his bride’s dress. Said rope accent trailed all the way down the front to its hem, as well as lined the Ends of the cuffs that folded damn near up to his elbows and the part of the sleeves that came down over the very edge of his shoulders. The scarf he wore was an equal shade of purple and knotted perfectly to hide his prominent Adam’s apple under it.

“Goddess alive,” he grumbled, his head tilted back as his friend worked at tying that scarf properly, then tucking it into the collar of his shirt.

“Oh, hush,” Ash chuckled. “You’ll only have to do this once, and besides, ya look damned sharp.”

“Maybe so, but that doesn’t mean I’ve to like it,” the Silver Fox grumbled.

Jr. and Gary Lynn laughed from where they were getting ready in an identical get-up, the rope detail on their jackets matching the bride’s maids’ dresses instead.

“I think you’ll quit caring once ya see Aerin, if my own girl’s description’s anything to go by,” his younger equivalent told him.

“Shut up and don’tcha dare go any further,” Rob warned him, even though he was smirking as he was finally allowed to lower his head. “I’d rather form my own opinion when I see her for myself.”

He simply grinned as he threw up his hands in surrender, his attention quickly caught by something behind him.

 _“OhmiGoddess.”_ Even the groom was surprised by what all of them saw when he turned to face the bathroom doors.

“Am I hallucinating, or am I _really_ seeing one of our dead brothers?” Jr. asked, his own eyes wide behind his bifocals.

“You’re really seeing me,” Bob Crosswhite chuckled, pushing himself away from where he’d been leaning against the door frame. It was more than a bit of a surpriseta realize he was dressed identically to his brothers, even though he was here as a Spirit.

“Well, it’s certainly a pleasant surprise,” the Silver Fox chuckled once he finally found his voice again.

“Wanted to give ya somethin’ I don’t think my own son worthy of,” he said with a nonchalant shrug.

A pair of Silver cuff links suddenly appeared on the dresser across from the foot of the bed, which took them all by surprise.

“Damn boy never shoulda gotten ’em after I died, far as I’m concerned,” he said. “Since I was there haunting my daughter-in-law–which I’ma continue after today–I figured why not take ’em back and give ’em to the one who _really_ deserves ’em?”

“If that ain’t our ever-devious brother, I dunno what is,” Gary Lynn finally laughed.

The Spirit didn’t even try to deny his youngest brother’s accusation as he grinned, which made their other brother and both bassists laugh along with him. He said that he was gonna make himself scarce for now, both so they could finish getting ready and so he could conserve his Energy. While he might not be able to walk his granddaughter down the aisle since he wasn’t alive anymore, that didn’t mean he couldn’t give her a surprise she’d never forget–which he fully Intended to do.

Rob couldn’t help his smile at the Thought of the man who might as well’ve been his second and final father-in-law popping in to surprise his _fiancé_. He knew without question that she’d love getting such a surprise, considering she was under the impression that even his Spirit wouldn’t get to attend their handfasting today. It still might not be quite the same as being walked down the aisle by him–which was being handled by a combination of Jr. and Ash since she couldn’t make up her mind which one she wanted to bestow such an Honor upon–but at least he’d still get to attend. That just made him look forward to the start of the ceremony even more than he’d already been looking forward to it all week.

About an hour later, the groom waited in the gazebo that marked his _fiancé’s_ Sacred Circle, Willing away the Anxiety that’d overcome him. Their closest friends, said friends’ significant others and kids, and the handful of her family Aerin’d decided to invite at the last minute sat in a small crowd in the grassy area on the back side of the pool. He couldn’t help but be nervous as he waited, Silently praying that she wouldn’t get cold feet and humiliate him in front of even this small crowd.

When the back door finally opened, Jude and Lucy stepping out in their miniature versions of the handfasting party’s attire, he took a deep breath. He wasn’t gonna Calm down entirely till he actually saw his bride step outta the house, particularly when she finally stepped into the gazebo with him and their officiant, a Witch older than himself who’d introduced herself as Ellen. Not even remembering this woman’d claimed to be more of what was called a Dianic Witch and a full-on lesbian could quell his Anxiety, even as he took in the details of the kids’ outfits. But that’d been more or less how he’d felt when he’d gotten married the first Time around, so he wasn’t exactly surprised by that.

Lucy grinned as she walked down the aisle next to her brother, flinging Rose and Tiger Lily petalsta either side of her as she did. She was beautiful in her lil dress, which appeared almost like a corset from the neckline down to where the upper half draped over her hips. Even the matching cloak–which was no doubt fastened at the back of her neck–that trailed behind her only added to her somewhat immature Beauty.

Once the kids took their placesta either side of the altar, Jude making sure he didn’t drop the lil pillow he carried that held their handfasting bands, the next pair exited the house. Zach and Zoe were dressed almost identically, save for a few obvious differences, namely the size of their clothing. The biggest difference between the lil Flower girl’s dress and her older equivalent’s was that the same Silver vine work that rounded the shoulders and neckline of the cloak she wore also Circled her breasts. It was that element of the dress’ design that emphasized her feminine assets without going too far, which drew a smile to Rob’s face. In fact, he was as pleased by how it _wasn’t_ putting his daughter on too much display as he was by how that same vine work emphasized her hips where the top half of the dress flowed over them.

From there, Aidan was escorted out by Bret, the pair of them serving as the Maid of Honor and best man for this ceremony. They were dressed identically to his son and daughter, right down to the minimal rhinestone work within that Silver vine work of the bride’s maid dress. As they took their places on either side of the altar to Zach’s left and Zoe’s right respectively, the Silver Fox knew there was only three more people left to exit the house. He took another deep breath as he waited as patiently as he could, forcing his shaking hands _not_ to toy with the cuff links he’d been so unexpectedly gifted with.

“Holy Goddess,” he breathed once Ash’d stepped onto the back porch, his bride behind him with her uncle bringing up the rear.

Rob just barely managed to keep his jaw up as he took in the radiant Beauty of the simplistic design he saw on his _fiancé_ as the younger bassist helped her down the porch stairs. While he’d thought the bride’s maids’ dresses she’d so obviously chosen were beautiful, he couldn’t help but find her handfasting dress even more gorgeous. Maybe that was due to the woman who was wearing it and the fact that he found her gorgeous in just about anything–and even nothing at all. But even the Crown settled on her head that seemingly held the hood of her cloak on her head couldn’t outdo the radiant smile she shot him as she started down the aisle.

Ash and Jr. walked on either side of her, her hands gently gripping their elbows as they moved at the same maddeningly slow pace as the rest of the handfasting party. Originally, the young woman’d wanted her surrogate brother to walk her down the aisle, but after being reunited with one of her favorite uncles, that plan’d Changed. Aerin hadn’t been able to make up her mind between the two, so she’d finally settled on having them both do it since her uncle was as closeta having her pappaw do so as she was gonna get.

Upon reaching the End of the aisle, they waited as the Silver Fox stepped down the couple steps of the gazebo to take the hand she held out to him. Both of them gave him a stern look as they warned him not to give them reason to bust out their boom-sticks on him, which made the gathered crowd laugh. He assured them that if he ever did such a thing, he’d just as soon kill himself as give them a chanceta come after him, and he wasn’t the least bit suicidal. Once the couple’d walked up into the gazebo so they were before the altar and the Witch officiating their handfasting, he heaved a sigh of relief.

But before Ellen could even open her mouth, everyone gathered distinctly heard, “I’m so happy for ya. Be happy with yer man, my beautiful puddin’.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, folks–there's gonna be several pictures included here. These're all pieces that were designed by someone who goes by Firefly Path, whom I've used the Creations of in a story I've since deleted. Some details've been Changed to suit my own–and therefore Aerin's–personal tastes, but these're what I was going by in describing the handfasting party's attire. That includes the Crown the bride was wearing, although the cuff links mentioned for the groom were supposed to be based on a set I swear Daddy once had.  
> ~Firefly
> 
> Link to Aerin's Handfasting Crown–https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bd3f0ac7a1fbd1712080b9c/1544378374194-ZCV9OVXVEDRPWVQ4GVA8/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kGiujZrHXsm98u6h0cJE0KBZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWEtT5uBSRWt4vQZAgTJucoTqqXjS3CfNDSuuf31e0tVEXLWQxnx3Ph1ELJxjjlL93hdwd4F57cxYgv4UW9dSNjGjggiF6p4Yj20AwLVs_8eQ/bloodcrown1.jpg
> 
> Link to Aerin's Handfasting Dress–https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bd3f0ac7a1fbd1712080b9c/1542659536586-1O8Q6LMN46I10GKZT2KD/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kHKFN0yf4ctPWuPTPMAmsqRZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZamWLI2zvYWH8K3-s_4yszcp2ryTI0HqTOaaUohrI8PIymu8A8qGYeEUABGHLh-EJkmx0bjV5JjDiNjmSJ5coBEKMshLAGzx4R3EDFOm1kBS/firefly-path-fantasy-fashion-purple-037.jpg
> 
> Link to Bride's Maids/Flower Girl Dress–https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bd3f0ac7a1fbd1712080b9c/1542659524825-ZFFAFU1M8MNAXH8SHAJR/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kHBOI10Oqe50K5AYdPeqTYsUqsxRUqqbr1mOJYKfIPR7LoDQ9mXPOjoJoqy81S2I8N_N4V1vUb5AoIIIbLZhVYxCRW4BPu10St3TBAUQYVKcZ7nIHmprcfuov5dlvTnz73vCX8abYV50SH4X8zijVtGTLimth8QDE_IRXAg0SgfD/firefly-path-fantasy-fashion-purple-021.jpg
> 
> Link to Rob's/Groom's Mens' Suit Jacket–https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bd3f0ac7a1fbd1712080b9c/1542655970676-0EJV2J9N3F9TDZAHDHF4/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kF4EVHR48lEYw7iDqX2nMxVZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZamWLI2zvYWH8K3-s_4yszcp2ryTI0HqTOaaUohrI8PIU3z4PwZyDMcNRazo3qAP0nwmjwJfZqiLTorwEdo2AmcKMshLAGzx4R3EDFOm1kBS/firefly-path-fantasy-fashion-black-029.jpg


	38. Thirty-Seven

_Satellite Beach, Florida_

Even as they pulled into the lil parking lot of the townhouse her now-husband was Intent on selling after their honeymoon, Aerin couldn’t help but still be a bit Emotional. She hadn’t expected her pappaw to make as much of an appearance as he could for a dead man at her handfasting, no matter what part they were at. His showing up–and dressed like all the other menfolk in their handfasting party, no less–had been the best kinda surprise she coulda gotten besides the news she still had yet to share with more than Aidan.

Rob killed the motor of the rental he’d snagged as soon as they landed at MCO in Orlando–which was the closest airport to their destination besides JAX in Jacksonville. Glancing over to his right, he saw his now-wife reaching up to brush away yet another tear, and he couldn’t resist reaching over to rub her back. Part of him wasn’t surprised that seeing her pappaw’s Spirit for only the second Time since his Death at their handfasting’d been so Emotional for her. But now–more than twelve hours later–he was starting to get worried about her, ’cuz she never stayed Emotional for this long. Maybe it was due to the fact that it was also the anniversary of the man’s Death, but something told him that wasn’t all of it.

“Hey, it’s all right, sweetheart,” he said, leaning over as he gently pulled her closer to the console so he could hug her over it. “I know ya miss him, but today’s supposed to have _good_ memories now, too.”

“I know, I know,” Aerin sighed. “Hopefully, I won’t _stay_ this Emotional for long.”

“Hopefully, ’cuz while I’m willing to letcha breakdown from Time to Time, I didn’t set out to be handfasted to a basket case,” the Silver Fox chuckled.

She didn’t respond to what he’d Intended to be a joke, which made him pull back enough to look at her.

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” Rob asked, tucking her hair behind her ear. “And don’t try to tell me nothing, either–I know ya better than that.”

“Just–wait till we’re inside, all right?” The young woman’s voice held a bit of a pleading note, which he couldn’t refuse.

Simply nodding his agreement, he finally moved to open his door, which prompted her to follow his lead on the other side of the car. Aerin took his keys so she could go on ahead of him and unlock the front door, which left him to pop the trunk and get their suitcases. He Intended for them to stay in Florida for a week, both as a honeymoon and a bit of a farewell for him, as it were.

Even though he loved his home State like none other he’d ever so much as driven through, Rob loved the woman he’d taken as his second wife more. She couldn’t take the heat and humidity of the State he loved so much, so he’d quickly abandoned any ideas of trying to get her to move down here. If being with her meant leaving behind the place he loved for the one that was quickly growing on him, he was more than willing to. That’d just take a bit of Time–during which, he’d be living with her, Ash, and Aidan–and he at least wanted to honeymoon here before he left it behind for good.

Walking in the front door after grabbing their suitcases from the trunk, making sure he’d the key to the rental in his pocket, and locking said rental, he was more than a lil startled to hear retching from the half-bath. The only person who coulda been in the townhouse without having committed B&E was his new wife, and that made his heart rate ratchet up even more. In fact, it scared him enough that he barely closed the front door before he abandoned their bags next to it and hauled assta its door on the other side of the lower laundry room.

Aerin leaned back against the wall next to the toilet, her legs curled up under her rump as she looked like she felt horrible. Her face was a more ashen hue than he’d ever seen it, not to mention she appeared clammy–which was no doubt from having just thrown up. The Silver Fox was quick to notice that she was also shaking like a leaf as he managed to step into the half-bath, using his height and longer armsta his advantage so he could reach out and flush the toilet for her. Without a word, he grabbed a rag from under the counter and soaked it in cool Water, not surprised when she sighed as he started wiping her face–especially right around her nose and mouth–for her.

“Sweetheart, ya all right?” Rob asked, sounding worried as he got her to open her eyes and look at him. “Ya haven’t been acting right all Day, but I just thought it was from your pappaw’s appearance at our handfasting earlier.”

“In the living room,” the young woman practically whimpered, holding up her arms like a child wanting to be carried.

Knowing he couldn’t actually pick her up too often, he grabbed her under her arms and hoisted her to her feet, taking note of how shaky her knees were.

_“Ooh,_ Goddess,” Aerin moaned, unable to help a distressed burp as he gently led her over to the couch situated on the wall behind the closet under the stairs.

“You’re starting to scare me, sweetheart,” the Silver Fox admitted as he got her settled, then sat down next to her.

“Nothing to be scared of unless I wind up needing to be hospitalized,” Aerin said, managing a soft, short chuckle.

He wasn’t too sure _what_ to make of that, his brow furrowing in confusion.

“I’m not quite sure _how_ to say it since the way I _normally_ would won’t exactly work right now,” the young woman said, gently grabbing his wrist. “So hopefully, this won’t fly right over your head.”

Rob was even more confused as she pulled his hand over to her, then held it down over her lower belly, but what she was trying to tell him quickly Dawned on him. “Wait, are ya serious?”

_“Mmm hmm_ –as a heart attack,” she answered, a weak smile crossing her lips.

“I don’t recall forgetting a rubber at any point, though,” the Silver Fox said, looking a bit confused as his brow furrowed again.

“Ya didn’t–butcha also weren’t quite as careful that first Time after ya were cleared to have sex again,” Aerin giggled. “One of the rubbers I pulled outta CC’s guest room trash can looked like it’d exploded at the tip, and there was practically nothing in it.”

He couldn’t help a laugh, nor his face turning a bit pink, as he took his hand back so he could face-palm damn near hard enough to knock himself out. It’d quite literally been decades since he’d made such a mistake, the last Time being when his daughter’d been conceived in April of 1996. Normally, he was far more vigilant than those two Times–or even the Time that’d led to his son–so he blamed desperation. However, his new wife grinned as she said she didn’t blame him, ’cuz she’d been just as desperate and not paying nearly as much attention as she normally did, either.

Unable to help himself, Rob gently hauled her against his chest, now realizing that the reason she’d been vomiting when he walked in was due to Morn sickness. Course, as he broke the gentle kiss he gave her, he couldn’t help wondering if she was sure about when she’d conceived. His ex-wife hadn’t been hit by the Morn sickness till about a month after conceiving, so this seemed a bit soon to him.

Aerin admitted that it was prolly a week or two too soon, but she was absolutely sure about when she’d have conceived. They hadn’t gone at it during the first four weeks of his recovery for obvious reasons, and the only other man in the house’d been CC. Considering that she’d already proven that she knew better than to mess with the man’s teenage son like that, he’d have been the only other one she coulda gone at it with. However, she’d made no bones about him being the least attractive member of Poison to her, so that nixed that idea.

The Silver Fox didn’t try to argue with her once she’d pointed out those things, knowing it’d be relatively pointless. He was still worried about her, considering that she was just barely pushing two weeks into her pregnancy and already feeling the effects. Luckily for him, she didn’t try to argue getting checked out by a local OB/GYN he’d known for decades due to his ex-wife and later his daughter. In fact, the young woman was more than agreeable to paying the woman a visit, just to be damn sure she was actually pregnant. She was pretty sure she was ’cuz of the nausea and vomiting alone, but since her period was supposed to start the Day previous and it hadn’t, that was another clue. Both knew that coulda just been due to stress, but she didn’t think it was, and she’d know her body better for obvious reasons.

Once assured that–even if it took a while–she’d eventually be all right, Rob couldn’t help himself as he gently kissed her again. Whether she was already pregnant or not, this was their handfasting Night–just ’cuz it hadn’t been a Traditional wedding and they weren’t legally married didn’t mean they couldn’t still celebrate. Besides, they hadn’t gotten a chanceta go at it since that Night in the back of her truck, and he was starting to feel needy again. Judging by her responses as he let his hands roam freely, Aerin was feeling just as needy and wasn’t about to try denying him unless she got too nauseous. Not wanting an audience due to the sliding glass door next to them, he gently picked her up so he could fulfill carrying her over the threshold upstairs.

The next Morn, the Silver Fox woke to the sight of the Sun Beginning its daily ascent over the Atlantic, which looked a Darker shade of blue than normal due to the Time of Day. He’d closed the curtains that hung in front of the sliding glass door that led to the balcony enough for privacy, but so that he’d still have this sight when he woke. It was a view he’d never get tired of for as long as he lived, but he knew how his bride felt about too much Light first thing in the Morn.

Said young woman hummed in her sleep as she squirmed against his side, where he’d tucked her in a possessively protective embrace the Night previous. They’d managed to squeeze in a couple romps before they were simply too exhausted to stay up any longer, which only added to his currently content mood. He was in one of his favorite places in the World with the woman of his Dreams in his arms–it just couldn’t get any better than this, as far as he was concerned. Well, that was till Aerin’s pregnancy came to term and she’d survived delivering a healthy baby with a clean Bill of Health of her own.

It wasn’t long before she squirmed again, this Time with a slightly displeased groan, and he chuckled at the soft Sound. He knew damn good and well she didn’t wanna get up, but no doubt her body’d other ideas, even if it was just for her to take a piss. Prolly the only thing that’d Destroy his good mood was if she wound up getting so sick that she passed out or something, but he doubted that’d happen.

“Good Morn, sweetheart,” Rob murmured, gently kissing her forehead.

_“Mmm, buongiorono, l’amore,”_ she practically hummed. She tilted her head back for an actual _good-Morn_ kiss, which he was more than happy to oblige by.

“How’re ya feeling?” the Silver Fox asked as she pushed herself up once they’d parted.

“Decent–for now,” Aerin answered as she stretched. “No telling how long it’ll stay that way, if yesterday was any indication.”

He wasn’t too sure what to make of that and cocked a brow as he sat up, too.

“Woke up around Dawn so nauseous, it didn’t take me long to lose the other Night’s dinner,” the young woman chuckled. “Or rather, the remnants of it.”

“What a wake-up call,” Rob laughed, keeping his volume down as she tossed the covers back.

“I know, right?” she asked, padding off to the bathroom in all her nude Glory. “Like, damn–couldn’t have waited another two hours so I didn’t need a nap so early yesterday afternoon, but _noooo!”_

The Silver Fox couldn’t help another laugh as he got up, as well, pausing to make the bed before joining her in the bathroom.

“We need a shower, if we’re gonna head off to that OB/GYN’s office this Morn,” Aerin said with a grimace.

“Sounds like a good idea,” he agreed. “I’d rather _not_ go somewhere like that disheveled and stinking of sex.”

“Not that it won’t be obvious such a thing’s happened at least once,” the young woman laughed. “I mean, once we explain that we just handfasted, rather than being father-daughter, it’s not like we’ll be able to hide it.”

“Doesn’t mean we’ve to showcase it, though,” Rob chuckled, his new wife starting the shower as he took his Morn piss.

“Fair enough, ’cuz I don’t really wanna showcase it, either,” she agreed. “Well, no more than being pregnant’s gonna, whether I’m two weeks or _twenty_ -two.”

Once he’d flushed and they’d given the Water Time to warm up at least a lil, both stepped into the shower, which was big enough for both of them. It was a hair on the tight side behind the glass panel that separated the showerhead from the toilet, but that was only if they didn’t take turns under it. But that served the purpose of allowing them to all but grind on one another, which pulled a growl from deep in his chest as he twitched. Since they weren’t actually making an appointment for her–this OB/GYN took walk-ins, after all–they’d more than enough Time for a third romp before heading down for breakfast.

After they finally finished their extended shower, Aerin was almost immediately demanding food, which made him laugh as they dried off. The Silver Fox wasn’t stupid enough to deny _any_ woman food when she was hungry, but especially not a pregnant one. Even if she was only two weeks along, she needed the extra fuel so she could take care of their unborn baby, and he knew that.

The couple barely took the Time to pause for breakfast–which he made sure to keep Light for her sake–before they were out the door. Following this impromptu doctor’s visit, they were able to pretty much run on _Island Time,_ as it were–meaning they could do whatever they wanted. Rob knew they’d decide on whether to just lounge around the townhouse, head down to the Beach, or actually go out once they were done with this, but he was more excited for this trip to a doctor than he’d been for one in quite a while.


	39. Thirty-Eight

Arriving back at the townhouse they were honeymooning in, the newly-handfasted couple were still more than a lil surprised. They found out through a quick blood test–which was a bit hard for Aerin due to her hatred of needles–that she was, indeed pregnant. But finding out she was actually pregnant wasn’t what’d surprised them so much–it was the fact that, as of right now, she was pregnant with twins.

Since miscarriage rates were the highest in the first twelve weeks, it was an all-too-distinct possibility that she could lose one or even both babies. When she revealed to the OB/GYN she saw that–as far as she knew–she’d already _had_ three miscarriages starting a decade ago, it was confirmed that the likelihood of her carrying to term was slim-to-none. In fact, the OB/GYN said that she’d be pleasantly surprised, if she got a call from one of them in eight-to-nine months informing her that she’d a healthy delivery. Whether that was of one or both babies’d be up for debate at this point, but even one baby surviving’d be a miracle.

One of the things said OB/GYN wanted to know, considering that pretty much _no_ State required blood tests prior to marriage and they hadn’t legally wed on top of it, was what Rob’s blood type was. He’d cocked a brow at her curiously, wondering how on Earth that could affect whether a pregnancy was carried to term or not. Never in all his almost-fifty-eight Years’d he heard of such a thing being related to pregnancy, and she was quick to inform him.

It turned out that a child’s blood type was determined by the genetics that made them much the same way a child’s hair and eye Color were. Assuming both parents were type O, their child was guaranteed to be type O as well–but mixing type O with any of the others could produce various combinations. If one parent was O, the other A, the child could be either type O or type A–the same was true with a mixtures of types O and B, just with a letter Change. But mixing a type O parent with a type AB parent produced a child of type A or type B blood, and it didn’t particularly matter which parent was which in any of those combinations. That part wasn’t exactly complicated, nor was it much of a threat to a mother carrying a pregnancy to term–but whether both parents were positive or negative _was_.

The Silver Fox’d been surprised to find out that if he’d the blood type O-negative, but his new wife’d the blood type O- _positive,_ he could still father a child with her. It was only if the child inherited _his_ blood type instead of hers that she’d be likely to miscarry, even if she hadn’t already had a high chance of it. A mother’s blood type couldn’t be the opposite of her unborn child’s in that respect, ’cuz if it was, her immune system’d attack the infant like it was any other infectious disease. She hadn’t come across a child that’d survived such a thing to term yet, which’d been why she’d asked and been pleasantly surprised to find out that he was O-positive, just like her patient’s blood tests proved _her_ to be.

“I’m _still_ a lil overwhelmed by all that,” he chuckled as he parked outside the townhouse. “Prolly by finding out we’re having twins more than anything.”

“Not to mention finding out that _you_ might even get a taste of my Morn sickness,” Aerin giggled, still amused by that Thought.

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” the Silver Fox laughed. “Definitely not looking forward to _that,_ if it even happens.”

“Your fault for not putting the rubber on right,” she snickered.

“It’s as much _your_ fault for not noticing _before_ we wound up in this mess,” Rob retorted playfully.

“Hey, _you_ can feel that kinda shit better than whoever you’re with can!” the young woman shot back. “How on Earth ya didn’t notice and think, _This don’t feel right_ – _maybe I need to pull out and check,_ I dunno!”

“Whatever–the deed’s done, and there’s no going back now,” he said. “’Cuz it’s not like I can put my dick in _Reverse_ and suck these two back outta ya.”

“Oh, Goddess–what a mental image!” Aerin crowed as they climbed outta their rental to head in.

The Silver Fox couldn’t help a grin as they headed up to the front door. “I aim to please.”

“Too well I know ya do,” she chuckled. “I wouldn’t be walking around with two buns in the oven, if ya didn’t.”

“Like I said, I’m still surprised by that,” Rob told her as he unlocked the front door.

“I’ma blame that one on genetics, too,” the young woman said as she preceded him into the house.

“How–are _you_ a twin, andja never told me?” he asked, a bit of a teasing note to his voice.

“Far as I know, the answer’s no,” Aerin answered, setting her purse on the island for the moment. “But Kat always swore twins ran on my sperm donor’s side of the family.”

The Silver Fox cocked a brow curiously as he closed and locked the door, wondering how that could possibly cause _her_ to conceive twins. As it turned out, that kinda thing was normally passed on matrilineally–meaning it was normally passed on by the mother–but it could also be _patrilineal_. It didn’t stand as high a chance, as compared to a boy inheriting his dick size from his father, or a mother being a carrier of such genes since she obviously wouldn’t have a reason to display them, but it _was_ possible.

Aerin admitted that she’d never quite believed her mother when she swore that twins ran on her Birth father’s side of the family, but maybe she’d been right. Sure, the conception of twins could be a freak occurrence–especially with identical twins–but if such a thing was already in her genes, it’d certainly up her chances. But as far as she was concerned, she didn’t particularly care how many she carried–she just cared about Health.

Rob certainly couldn’t deny that he was a bit worried, himself due to her apparent reproductive history thus far. It was entirely possible that she’d miscarried so many Times before she’d even hit twenty due to the magnesium deficiency she’d discovered she had in recent Years. After all, such a thing coulda been her body’s way of trying to tell her there was something wrong with it, and she hadn’t been healthy enough to maintain a pregnancy back then. But now that she’d started taking a magnesium supplement to correct that–not to mention started experimenting with what, if any leafy greens she liked, too–that might not be a factor anymore. The fact that she’d also since stopped smoking’d no doubt help with that _not_ occurring this Time around, too.

Since they didn’t really have any choices but to wait and see how things played out, he insisted on tearing up the kitchen to make lunch. That Light breakfast they’d had before they headed out was starting to wear off for him, and he figured that was prolly the case for her, too. His young, new wife definitely agreed that lunch was a good idea, as was taking her first dose of the high-powered Pepto she’d been prescribed. Considering her own mother’d had such hellacious Morn sickness with her, she wasn’t taking any chances since her own pregnancy was already so perilous at the moment.

Two weeks later, the newly-handfasted couple finally pulled into Ash’s driveway after their final eleven-hour drive from Florida. After a week-long honeymoon at the townhouse he tended to rent out more often than not, they’d spent another week at his actual home. When they weren’t asleep, they were busy packing what he wanted to keep and take to Tenn with him, which was mostly clothes, his instruments, and things like old family photos. He wasn’t willing to leave behind photos of himself, his mother, and his siblings from his childhood, nor photos of his own kids when they were–well, kids.

Aerin hadn’t begrudged her new husband that much, considering how near-and-dear she held the few family photos of her own that she cherished. Most of those were of her Birth father, whom she’d never met when she was old enough to actually remember him, ’cuz they were all she had of him besides her DNA. She already knew how her husband felt in that regard, and she could still relate when it came to family members like his mother and sister, who’d passed in 2011 and 2016, respectively. Maybe he wasn’t quite as Emotional about missing such deceased relatives as she was about missing her pappaw, but she knew he still felt that pain and loss, all the same. Trying to deny him wanting to keep such keepsakes as old family photos wouldn’t have been fair since she insisted on doing the same thing.

Climbing outta the U-haul he’d rented to haul what he wanted to keep up North, Rob couldn’t help a somewhat distressed groan. They’d been warned that there was a possibility he could get at least a touch of his new wife’s Morn sickness in the form of Sympathy sickness, but he’d hoped it wouldn’t happen. However, he’d been feeling pretty nauseous ever since he woke in Florida that Morn, and he’d found that excessive heat certainly wasn’t helping him.

Zach and Zoe came darting out the garage door ahead of Ash and Aidan for a couple different reasons as he closed the driver’s door. Naturally, they were glad to see that he’d Returned from his honeymoon and packing his belongings safely, and they were ready to spend some Time with him. After all, they’d spent the week of said honeymoon packing their own belongings and hauling them up North, given that they didn’t wanna stay in Florida without him. But the second his daughter grabbed him for a Bear-hug, he was forced to use one hand to gently push her away as the other roseta cover his mouth. Even the other couple was surprised when he turned to the mulch-filled flowerbed to unload his dinner as his wife climbed outta his car.

“Shit, didn’t get a chanceta warn her?” Aerin asked, kneeling down on the concrete to pull his hair back for him.

_“Noooo,”_ the Silver Fox practically whimpered between panting to catch his breath.

“Please tell me we’re not gonna have to take him back to the hospital,” he heard his son say, the words half-vague as he focused on the hand gently rubbing his back.

“We shouldn’t, but no more Bear-hugging him like that,” the young woman told them. “Me, either, for that matter.”

“I’m guessing ya told him?”

Finally managing to glance up, he saw Aidan grinning at them.

“As much as I’m sure you’ve told a certain someone your own news,” she answered, Returning the grin.

“Hell yeah, I told him!” the ginger laughed. “Coulda knocked him over with a Feather when I did, too!”

“Same goes for Rob,” Aerin giggled, moving to let the younger bassist and his son help him back up. “I think he coulda stepped on his bottom lip at first, his jaw dropped so much.”

“Can’t blame me for being surprised,” Rob grumbled. “Especially after that doctor’s visit the next Morn.”

The quartet that made up their greeting party collectively cocked a brow.

“Dunno ’bout y’all, but turns out it’s twins in _my_ case,” the young woman announced.

_“OhmiGoddess!”_ Aidan grabbed her for a gentle hug, mindful of both their nausea and tender breasts. “A lil Aerin _and_ a lil Rob!”

“Maybe, maybe not–could be two of one or the other, after all,” she said. “It’s _waaaay_ too soon to tell since I’m only right at four weeks now.”

“All right–so, you’re pregnant,” Zach finally said, his sister looking shocked. “I’m not even gonna ask how ya can be sure it’s Dad’s, ’cuz I doubt you’d cheat on him if your Life depended on it.”

“Damn right, I wouldn’t,” Aerin agreed. “I’d the perfect opportunity and every reason to when we were crashing with CC, and I still didn’t.”

“Given that, my question’s this–why on Earth’s _he_ sick since he obviously _can’t_ get pregnant?” he asked.

Chuckling as the group helped them inside on the grounds that he and Ash’d unload the older bassist’s belongings, she explained it the way the OB/GYN in Florida had. Their close bond combined with a close physical proximity could cause her hormonesta affect even her husband, which meant he could experience many of the same symptoms. Everything from the nausea and vomiting to weird cravings he wouldn’t normally have were on the table, whether they liked it or not.

His younger counterpart couldn’t help a laugh as they got the couple settled on the couch in the living room, easily confirming that much was true. Even _before_ his own now- _fiancé’d_ revealed her pregnancy to him right after his proposal the Night of their handfasting, he’d been feeling a lil _off_. At first, he’d thought it was his meds needing to be readjusted again, but that was quickly nixed as a main cause after her revelation.

But unlike Rob–who seemed to have it at least twice as bad–his own symptoms seemed to be relatively mild and easy enough to play off. Some mild nausea first thing in the Morn, which was easily quelled with coffee, of all things, and a couple mild mood swings here and there were all he’d experienced thus far. He hadn’t run into the problem of red meat making the nausea worse for him since he almost never ate the stuff in the first place, which made the Silver Fox flip him off. The poor guy loved his bacon at least two Days a week, but even ripping open a package of it’d send him hauling ass for the nearest bathroom.

“No buying or preparing of the red meat for a while–got it,” Aidan chuckled. “Not a problem since that makes even _me_ sick right now.”

“At least we’re not alone in that,” he sighed, wrapping an arm around his new wife.

“Now, what’s this about even _Ash_ proposed–and on our handfasting Night, at that?” said wife asked.

Unable to help the shit-eating grin that split her face, she gladly held out her left hand for them.

“Definitely not _my_ style, but _oooh,”_ Aerin breathed, gently holding her fingers still so they could get a good look.

All three Stones that were Centered on top of the band–which looked like hammered black chrome–were multicolored more so than even Opals were known to be. She couldn’t quite make out the detail of the actual setting, but she was sure that whatever it was, it was gorgeous and perfectly befitting of her friend’s ever-colorful personality. That could even be said about the smaller, equally multicolored Stones that were inlaid around half the band in that _half-Infinity_ style her own handfasting set sported. Letting go of her hand once even Rob’d gotten a good look, she hoped that the wedding band her friend had picked matched.

“Well, of course!” he laughed. “Ya don’t think I’ma make _that_ kinda mistake, as into fashion and matching as I am, do ya?”

“I should hope not, but you’re ’bout as unpredictable as _her_ sometimes,” the young woman retorted. “Course, it depends on the case in question.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ash asked, crossing his arms as he cocked a brow at her.

“Oh, like you’ve to even ask!” she laughed. “But to be serious, I knew it was only a matter of Time before she turned up pregnant, so it wasn’t as much _if_ as _when_ I was gonna be told that.”

“Really, now?” The younger bassist was clearly fighting a smirk.

“Jeez, you’ve been together for over two Years now!” Aerin said. “Hell, I’m surprised it didn’t happen within the first _month,_ as much as y’all go at it!”

“You and your man’re no better there!” he retorted, his grin finally breaking free. “Shit, I seem to recall–”

“None of that, now,” the ginger admonished him with a grin of her own. “Lil ears since I’m sure Zach and Zoe don’t wanna know what their dad does.”

“Please, spare me,” Zoe groaned. “I mean, I _know_ Daddy’s a man and every man thinks with his dick, but–just, no.”

Her brother agreed wholeheartedly with that sentiment, much to both couples’ amusement, as he headed off to start unloading said dad’s belongings. Those belongings were gonna be stored in the garage for now, meaning that everyone’d to park in the actual driveway for a while, but that was perfectly fine. Closing on both couples’ new homes should be relatively quick, so that shouldn’t be a problem for any of them to have to deal with in the next month or so.

Considering they’d just made a nearly twelve-hour Journey from the Palm Bay area, Rob and Aerin both were exhausted. They were just ready to fall into bed and pass out till the next Morn, even though his kids wanted to spend Time with them, especially their dad. Luckily, said kids were understanding to their plight, which was only worsened by their shared nausea waking them up too early for their liking.

Zoe and Aidan helped them take their suitcases up to the young woman’s bedroom since they were already having to lean on each other just to get upstairs. Neither of the women who followed them were quite sure who held who up more–was it the Silver Fox holding his bride up due to being stronger, or _her_ holding _him_ up since she was shorter and wedged right up against his side? Either way, it was clear they both needed some serious rest so they could recharge and get used to running on Central Time again for the moment. After all, he’d more than enough reason to _not_ go to bed and fail to wake the next Morn, what with having two more babies who needed him on the way.

Once they were both changed into their chosen pajamas and tucked into Aerin’s bed, the womenfolk left them to their rest. Both bid them sleepy _good-Nights_ as they closed her hall door, unsure of whether the guys’d let them help with tonight’s off-load before they, too turned in for the Night. The softness of the young woman’s mattress and the warmth of their combined body heat and her covers were calling their names in a hypnotizing tone. In fact, the other pair of women hadn’t even made it down to the bottom of the stairs in the kitchen hallway before they’d fallen into a deep, Dreamless slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, to start off–Aidan's supposed to essentially be my best friend as much as _Aerin's_ supposed to be _me._ Said best friend knows who she is, so I'm not tagging her–and if she _doesn't,_ then shame on her. LOL!
> 
> That being said, here's linksta the rings I combined to Create the engagement ring mentioned in this chapter. I tried downloading the .jpg files, but never could get 'em to open up in a new tab so I could, and I'm honestly too tired to fight with it right now, so a link's the next best thing. And for the hammered-Metal look, just imagine the look a hammered-finish spray paint has, 'cuz that's kinda what I'm going for.  
> ~Firefly
> 
> Link to Three-Stone Ring–https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ISL8QBC/ref=cm_sw_r_pi_dp_x_rGz4xb51MCAZ7
> 
> Link to Single-Stone, Half-Infinity Ring–https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GVNCQ81/


	40. Thirty-Nine

Due to the Change in Time zones from just the Day previous, it wasn’t even Dawn when the nausea woke t-he newly-handfasted couple from a dead sleep. Poor Aerin let out something that sounded like a cross between a whimper and a mewl as she rolled over and tossed the covers off herself. Her new husband was intelligent enough to let her go instead of trying to keep her in bed with him, even though he wasn’t ready to get up any more than she was. She’d already proven when he tried to be stubborn once that she’d just puke on him like his kids’d done as ailing children, and he wasn’t dealing with that again.

While she was busy losing the remnants of the small dinner she’d managed to hold down when they’d stopped for food on their way home, Rob was forced to grab the trash can that’d been put on his side of the bed. He already didn’t like hearing someone else tossing their cookies on a normal Day, but just the Sound of it made him sick to his own stomach now, for sure.

Once she was feeling better, the young woman shuffled back into the bedroom, where she dropped down and started digging through their suitcases. The OB/GYN she’d seen’d prescribed her some high-powered Pepto when she’d said her own mother’s Morn sickness with her was so bad, she’d damn near been hospitalized and even _lost_ eleven pounds instead of _gaining_ weight. Given that he wasn’t actually her patient, she’d simply recommended the OTC version of Pepto for her husband, if he started feeling the Sympathy sickness.

“Ugh, I fuckin’ hate this shit,” he grumbled, taking the capful of thick, pink liquid she handed him.

“Better’n not being able to keep anything down, ain’t it?” Aerin asked, her words a bit slurred since she wasn’t fully awake yet.

“True enough,” the Silver Fox agreed, pinching his nose so he wouldn’t have to taste as much of it as he knocked it back. “Blech–I’d rather have a shot of whiskey again!”

“Not gonna happen,” she giggled, even though she reacted much the same way. “You’re not going back to your dirty ways and leaving me to deal with these two on my own.”

“Yeah, bad enough I once did that to Mishy with just Zach,” Rob said, gently rubbing her belly once she’d crawled back into bed with him. “Definitely wouldn’t be fair to ya with _two_ now.”

“I’d kill ya dead, if ya did that,” the young woman told him, sighing as she snuggled against him again.

“I didn’t know there was another way ya _could_ kill me,” he chuckled as he settled down again, himself.

“Ya know what I meant, asshole,” Aerin giggled before letting out a yawn so big, her teeth clacked shut from how quick her jaw closed.

The Silver Fox was definitely in agreement that they needed more sleep before they even thought of getting up for the Day, that it was simply too early. He was gentle about pulling her closer to him so that her left leg was draped over his waist, knowing it’d take a few minutes for their medicine to actually kick in. Said wife seemed more than content to just snuggle against him, clearly enjoying the lil bit of extra heat he radiated, especially once she’d pulled the covers back up.

About three hours later, around eight in the Morn, the rest of the newly-doubled household was up and about, none of them fully awake. The other two-thirds of _Triple A_ were only up due to the Morn-slash-Sympathy sickness waking them up, considering it was a Saturn’s Day again. Considering that he’d been a taken man for over two Years and his _fiancé_ was now pregnant, Ash’d started taking the weekends off, even though he still managed to find shit around the houseta do so he stayed busy.

Zach and Zoe were tempted to go get the other couple up since they still wanted to spend Time with their dad, but the lone ginger was quick to put the kibosh on that idea. She said that if they felt even half as bad as she and her own man did, they were better off letting them sleep in. Besides, they’d just gotten back home from their honeymoon, and the Time Change was no doubt to monkey with them a bit. They mighta gone back by only an hour instead of three like they’d have done by flying out to So Cal, but it was still no doubt to make them feel even worse for the first Day or two, at the least.

However, it wasn’t long before said couple were trudging down the back stairs into the kitchen hallway, apparently having woken up and been unable to get back to sleep. Judging by their disheveled appearances, they’d slept pretty good, considering how nauseous they both no doubt were. Not only that, but the glazed, almost stoned look to their eyes bespoke at least a decent Night’s sleep for both of them.

“Morn,” Aidan half-grumbled from where she sat at the peninsula counter.

“Morn,” Rob answered, sounding more like he was growling than he wasn’t before he managed a full-body stretch that left him on tiptoe for a few moments.

“Damn, man–that _had_ to’ve felt good,” his younger equivalent chuckled as they heard a couple pops from his spine.

“Coulda been better,” he admitted. “Getting old sucks since it’s not as easy to pop your back.”

“Unlike me, who freaks people out when I do it,” Aerin giggled.

“There’s no way,” her new stepson laughed, taking care to keep his volume down.

“Dude, she sounds like a bowl of _Rice Krispies_ when she gets going good!” Ash told him.

_“Snap, crackle, pop!”_ the young woman giggled, even her new husband chuckling softly.

“She really _does,_ son,” Rob agreed. “It’s more than a lil freaky sometimes.”

Said young woman responded to the look shot at her by twisting her neck in a way that looked like she was about to break it, sighing at the loud pops that part of her spine let out.

“Jesus!” Zoe gasped, her eyes widening.

“Oh, that’s nothing,” Aerin snickered, spinning so she could grab the counter behind her.

Digging her feet in like she was trying to keep a leashed Dog from pulling her, she put more force into the trunk-twist she was already doing. Almost immediately, they heard a rapid succession of pops and cracks that no doubt spanned from her shoulders all the way down to her tailbone. Letting go of the counter as she grinned, she spun around in the other Direction and did it again, not getting _quite_ as many of those same noises this Time since her back was already half-cracked.

“Holy shit!” her stepkids practically squawked, their jaws dropping.

“Part of being arthritic since I’m so young,” she laughed, cracking every knuckle in both hands before managing to pop both wrists and even her elbows.

“I should hope you’re not proud of being able to pop just about everything like that, if _that’s_ the case,” Zach said.

“Eh, not really,” the young woman answered, holding her arms back behind her.

Knowing what she wanted, Rob simply grabbed her forearms and pulled her arms into one of the wildest contortions any of them’d ever seen.

_“Ahhhh,”_ Aerin sighed when he managed to pop both shoulders for her.

“Holy shit,” her stepson laughed. “I’ve never met anyone who could get their shouldersta pop like that.”

“Hell, my hips’ll pop like that sometimes, if I move the right way,” she laughed. “But I don’t actually try to pop _those_ joints ’cuz the way I’ve to do it usually makes my _left_ hip act up too much these Days.”

“Howddaya even manage that?” Zoe asked.

“Drop down into as much of a side split as my non-flexibility’ll allow me,” the young woman answered. “Otherwise, I just gotta move the right way or spread my legs like I’ma get laid and hope they pop.”

“Or this,” the Silver Fox chuckled, making her grab the counter again.

Laughing since she knew what he was about to do, Aerin let him pull her right leg behind her and slightly out, which made her look eerily reminiscent to a figure skater. It wasn’t two seconds later that her right hip let out a pop just loud enough to hear, but nothing like her back and knuckles’d done. Once that hip was popped, she Changed her stance a bit so he could to the same thing to her other leg, both of them knowing he’d to be more careful with this side.

Rob didn’t try to haul her leg behind her nearly as fast or roughly, although he still had to put some pressure into it. This particular joint actually made her grimace, then let out a soft yelp as it let out a louder pop than its twin, which prompted him into gently lowering her leg again. He was quick to reach down and massage the joint in question, careful to keep his touch gentle, despite how suggestive it looked.

Aerin soon pulled away from him, grumbling as she popped her knees before bracing the top of her foot so that it was pulled into an equally wild angle. Seconds later, her right ankle let out a pop as loud as her wrists, which was followed by a pop from her _left_ ankle once she readjusted her weight. Curling her toes like she was in the throws of an orgasm and gently knocking them against the hardwood cracked even those joints, not to mention a couple bones in the back of her feet. Those last last couple pops seemed kinda painful for her, given the way she winced, but clearly nothing she couldn’t handle as she moved to start her coffee.

“Damn, you’re actually going with decaf, girl?” Ash laughed when he saw what she pulled out.

“Have been since Rob got outta the hospital,” the young woman retorted as she filled her reusable K-cup pod. “Besides, I found out that caffeine and I are gonna fight right now, even if he _could_ have it with me.”

“Yeah, letting her have that _and_ vape at the same Time right now usually sends her hauling ass for the nearest bathroom,” Rob chuckled. “Not a good combo unless ya want a messta clean up.”

“Wait, you’re pregnant and _still_ vaping?” The youngest man seemed more than a lil surprised.

“Not a good idea to just go cold turkey,” Aerin answered. “Not with my history being what it is already.”

“Whaddaya mean?” his sister asked curiously.

“That I’d three miscarriages before I ever turned twenty, and to this Day, I dunno exactly what caused ’em,” she answered as the scent of coffee filled the room again. “Most likely the magnesium deficiency, no doubt compounded by the fact that I used to smoke, but it coulda be just about anything.”

“Quitting _any_ stimulant–even nicotine–could trigger a miscarriage even quicker than staying on it,” Aidan agreed. “It’d essentially send her system into a weird sorta shock, and the first thing it’d do’d be to sacrifice any fetus she was carrying as a form of Self-preservation.”

“Bingo,” the young woman said, grabbing her mug once the Keurig’d filled it. “I’ve already been off caffeine for the most part long enough that I didn’t really have enough in my system for it to cause that problem when I even started suspecting I was pregnant–nicotine, on the other hand…”

“Even your OB/GYN–which’s the doctor I took her to, by the way–said she’d be better off slowly weaning herself off it than quitting cold turkey,” the Silver Fox agreed with a quick nod to his daughter.

“What about that magnesium deficiency?” Zach asked.

According to some research Aerin’d done when somebody’d told her they thought she might have that problem, magnesium’s central role in facilitating the function of over three hundred critical enzymes ranked the mineral among the most important trace Elements in the human diet. Those enzymes played an important role in regulating a human’s Day-to-Day metabolic functions, which Influenced everything from how the body manufactured DNA, RNA, and protein, to how its cells derived and generated energy from the food a person ate.

The mineral was critically important for the structural development and maintenance of healthy bones, and even played a role in the production of glutathione, a chemical that’d been called the body’s master antioxidant. As one of the most abundant minerals in the human body, it was no Wonder that the symptoms of low magnesium levels were correlated with so many Health-related issues that impacted all the body’s major systems.

“The symptoms of such a deficiency’re irritability, Anxiety, lethargy, fatigue, memory problems, anorexia, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, seizures, muscle weakness, muscle _cramps,_ tremors, vertigo, difficulty swallowing, and even irregular or rapid heartbeat,” she said, counting off each one on her fingers as she listed it.

“Christ on a crutch,” Ash winced.

“The only ones I _didn’t_ really have were anorexia–’cuz I don’t really count that and a loss of appetite as the same thing since I _love_ food–tremors, and seizures,” the young woman said. “And the seizures is a big one for me, given another part of my family history.”

“Whatcha mean by that?” Even Aidan looked curiously confused.

“They run on my mammaw’s side of the family,” Aerin answered. “I can’t remember what kind exactly, but I know _she_ was put on Phenobarbital as a kid, and I think even Kat was, too.”

“Fuck a Duck,” her stepson said. “Yeah, you _definitely_ don’t need to let anything start triggering seizures.”

“Well, unless I’ve been having something called _Daydream seizures_ all my Life and just never realized it, I’ve never actually had a seizure, so I think I’m good on that one,” she chuckled. “But no, I still don’t need to do anything that could potentially cause one.”

_“Daydream seizures?”_ her stepdaughter asked, looking confused.

“There’s several different types of seizures, but we’ll get into that in a minute,” the young woman laughed.

“So, what were some of the other big hints you’d a magnesium deficiency?” the younger bassist asked.

“Eh, the various _clinical_ shit that can be caused by it’re depression, dementia, chronic fatigue syndrome, ADHD, asthma, colon cancer, epilepsy, Parkinson’s, sleep disorders, fibromyalgia, migraines, osteoporosis, PMS, chest pain, cardiac arrhythmia, coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis, hypertension, and type II diabetes,” Aerin answered.

“I’ve seen ya get kinda depressed before, but nothing _too_ bad,” he mused.

“Oh, trust me–it was even worse than anything you’ve seen before we met,” the young woman said. “I just got damn good at hiding it, and I still am now.”

She said that one of the big things a person could do to reverse a magnesium deficiency–aside from taking a supplement like she did and Changing their diet–wasta reduce or cut out alcohol and junk food. Apparently, those were two of the biggest things that’d help the body absorb and actually utilize the magnesium put into it, no matter exactly where it came from. That was actually part of the reason why she pretty much refused to take any prescribed drugs unless she absolutely had to. The list of acid-blockers, antacids, antibiotics, blood pressure drugs, corticosteroids, heart medications, hormones, and even oral contraceptives that could deplete magnesium in the body were simply too numerous for her to even try to list.

Even Rob couldn’t help a wince at the Thought of something as simple as Tums only worsening her condition just so she could get rid of a case of heartburn or something. And now he and the others’d a far better Understanding of why she was so stubborn about going on Birth Control, despite the fact that she was so sexually active and _didn’t_ want kids. If it was gonna worsen her overall condition–especially if she ran outta her supplement and had to go off it till she could get more–it just wasn’t worth it.

Aerin admitted that she hadn’t gotten formally tested for the deficiency, if only ’cuz she’d been one of the many Americans who didn’t have Health insurance at the Time she’d started suspecting it. She’d decided to try the supplement on her own ’cuz her diet’d been so far from Balanced–and she meant pretty much _no_ greens in sight at the Time–that she figured the worst that’d happen’d be her body’d just filter it out and not use it. But even though the guy who’d told her what it sounded like was wrong with her’d warned her it’d take about six weeks for the supplement to really work, she’d started noticing a difference in a mere week.

“My levels were apparently so low that the effect was almost immediate, compared to what _that_ guy was saying,” the young woman said.

“Damn, seriously?” Zach asked, his eyes wide with surprise.

“I used to be an insomniac–like, worse than your dad and Ash combined when they’re in a Creative mood, bad–and I started sleeping better within the first couple Nights,” she answered, nodding. “My joints stopped hurting as bad, and I went from having to take leftover painkillers just for period crampsta only having to take Aleve for ’em within a month.”

“Holy shit.” Even the younger bassist looked shocked. “Ya _seriously_ had to take a painkiller for period cramps?”

“The last period I had before I went on that supplement, yeah,” Aerin answered. “It was so bad, it made my hip acting up look like a paper cut.”

“Ouch.” The Silver Fox winced, ’cuz he’d seen how she could get when her hip started bothering her.

“That’s an understatement, love!” the young woman laughed. “But needlessta say that with everything that kinda deficiency can cause, I wouldn’t be surprised if smoking actually had _nothing_ to do with my past miscarriages.”

“Honestly, I wouldn’t, either,” Aidan agreed. “Sounds like smoking woulda been the least of your worries when it comesta carrying a healthy pregnancy.”

“Granted, that doesn’t mean I’m willing to take any chances _now,”_ she said. “If that means vaping right up through when I pop, but having at least _one_ healthy baby, I’d rather do that than trigger a miscarriage by quitting cold turkey or something equally stupid.”

“I don’t blame ya, sis,” Ash said, even her stepkids nodding their agreement.

As he started serving up the Light, but filling breakfast he’d been working on while they were talking, their conversation shifted to the various types of seizures and their moving plans. They were all surprised to find out there were two main types of seizures–focal and generalized–all of them more familiar with the type known as _grand mal_ than anything else.

Laughing, Aerin said that grand mals were the most well-known ’cuz they were the most noticeable and severe outta the generalized category. They were formally known as a _tonic-clonic seizure,_ which was presented as the body going rigid before the characteristic muscle spasms and loss of consciousness associated with that type. _Clonic seizures_ were merely the rhythmic muscle spasms, while _tonic seizures_ were just the body going rigid for about twenty seconds. Those tonic seizures were most common when one was asleep, but could definitely make a person fall, if they happened while the person was awake.

_Atonic seizures_ caused the person to go limp, which meant they could easily fall–usually resulting in a sufferer walking around wearing a helmet almost constantly–or drop things they were holding. _Myoclonic seizures_ tended to make people jerk as if they’d been shocked, and _petit mals_ usually made folks seem zoned-out and non-responsive. That last type of generalized seizure was mostly experienced by those under fourteen, but that didn’t necessarily mean it couldn’t happen to an adult like any other type of seizure. It was also those petit mals that were known as _Daydream seizures,_ ’cuz they were usually so short and both Began and Ended so abruptly that they could be mistaken as Daydreaming for months before they were actually diagnosed.

Rob couldn’t help a chuckle at how much of a walking trivia box his new wife was when it came to various medical problems, which made her stick her tongue out at him. The young woman said that with so much shit running on her mother’s side of the family alone, she’d rather be a walking trivia box on it than not. If one added in that she knew practically nothing of the medical history on her father’s side of the family, she really didn’t think it smart to take chances where she didn’t have to.

By the Time they’d finished breakfast–which the mildly-nauseous folks managed to keep down–they’d decided on a moving plan. If they could close on both couples’ new houses at roughly the same Time, the figured they might as well start with the Silver Fox and his kids. They’d all down-sized quite a bit by leaving the majority of their unnecessary belongings in Florida to be sold with his current house, so they didn’t have as much to move. After running away from North Carolina, Aerin’d never really accumulated much besides a few things she used as wall Art and other _décor_. Even with four peoples’ worth of stuff to move out to the Knoxville area, they’d get them moved and settled in quicker than anyone.

Once they’d gotten that particular family settled in, they’d worry about getting Ash and Aidan moved into _their_ new home. Granted, it was a given that folks like his buddy Jeremiah’d help move all of them, but it was still better to move the other family first. At least then, they ought not put the pregnant women under any more stress than they absolutely had to, which’d be good for maintaining said pregnanciesta term.


	41. Forty

_Loudon, Tennessee_

A month after Returning from their honeymoon, Rob and Aerin were more or less settled into their new home across the State. They were taking their Time with unpacking their belongings, considering that the Morn-slash-Sympathy sickness was still kicking their asses. His kids’d headed back to Nashville almost as soon as they’d off-loaded their own boxes so they could help the younger bassist and ginger, now that it was _their_ turn to start moving into a new home. Even said ginger insisted that the other couple focus on unpacking their own belongings instead of worrying about helping them since they’d not one, but two babiesta prepare for once they’d tackled that.

Said older bassist and his wife’d lain down for a nap one afternoon about a week after moving into their new house. Both’d been woken up far too early by their nausea, so they’d decided to do a lil more unpacking and just grab a nap later in the Day. Therefore, neither heard his phone start ringing till a second call came in moments after the one they’d slept through. Groaning as he rolled over to grab his phone off his nightstand, he almost sent the call to voice mail when he realized it was Bret.

_“Whaaaat?”_ the Silver Fox groaned, having chosen to answer it, instead.

_“Well, hello to_ you, _too,”_ his friend chuckled. _“You’re not one for naps, so how on Earth did I manage to wake ya up? I thought it was, like_ – _two in the afternoon there.”_

Pulling his phone away from his face, Rob blinked sleepily for a few moments till he was able to see that it _was,_ indeed a lil after two. “Not feeling good–got woke up too early,” he finally answered.

_“Yikes_ – _here’s hoping ya feel better soon,”_ the vocalist told him, unable to help a wince.

“Not gonna be for a while, unfortunately–but I’m managing,” he said, unable to help a yawn. “So, what’s up?”

_“Well, we were looking into setting up a Summer tour for next Year_ – _”_ Bret started, only to get cut off.

“Not happening, if you’re expecting _me_ to get on that stage with y’all,” the Silver Fox stated.

_“Why not? You’re normally the one who’s trying to get the rest of us on the road again,”_ he pointed out.

“’Cuz I’m not leaving my wife home alone with even a single baby, let alone two, right after delivery just so I can hit the road,” Rob said.

_“Wait, what?”_ The vocalist sounded surprised. _“Aerin’s_ really _pregnant?”_

“Almost two months,” he answered, knowing he couldn’t see him when he nodded. “We’re pretty sure it happened the Night I proposed, maybe within a Day or two after that.”

_“Oh, really_ – _and how can ya be quite_ that _sure?”_ Bret chuckled.

“’Cuz apparently, she found an exploded rubber in the trash the next Morn,” the Silver Fox snickered. “I guess I was so desperate after being cut off for a month that I didn’t pay attention to putting it on so that _wouldn’t_ happen.”

_“And she was prolly_ just _as desperate, so she didn’t notice, either,”_ he mused.

Rob agreed that his young wife’d said as much, so she pretty much laid the blame for such a surprise on both of them equally, rather than solely on him. But he was quick to admit that–miraculously enough–she’d conceived twins and still hadn’t lost either baby after nearly two months. He was quick to say that they didn’t wanna tell anyone else just yet, and begged him to tell Rikki and CC that he simply hadn’t been able to get in touch with him yet or something. They Intended to tell friends and family outside what’d been their household a month ago, but not for _another_ month or so when the miscarriage rate’d drop more.

Bret wasn’t too keen on hiding such good news from the other half of his band, but he’d a feeling his bassist’d a good reason for making such a request of him. When he said that Aerin’d a history of miscarriages and they didn’t wanna share their news till they were sure she wasn’t gonna lose this pregnancy, too, he couldn’t exactly blame him.

The Silver Fox was quick to say that he might consider an Autumn or Winter tour, even though that was outside the norm for them nowadays. He wanted to wait and see how things went immediately after the Birth, provided his wife carried to term and survived a healthy delivery. But he definitely wasn’t leaving her on her own with even a single newborn–whether one or two babies, he wanted them to at least be sleeping through the Night before he did such a thing. Maybe then, she’d be able to handle taking care of twins–should both babies survive the pregnancy–on top of him leaving for a tour.

By the Time they Ended their phone call, said young woman was starting to squirm next to him, which meant she was closeta waking up. Rob hoped she wouldn’t get mad at him for telling his vocalist their news so soon, considering they hadn’t been able to talk it over first. She oughta know that he wouldn’t do such a thing without a damn good reason, but with her hormones being wildly imbalanced compared to normal, he knew there was a chance such a thing _could_ happen.

_“Mmm,_ who were ya talkin’ to, love?” Aerin asked as she Returned from the bathroom a couple minutes later.

“Bret,” he answered. “Gimme a minute, and I’ll fill ya in.”

“I’m at least gonna get some Water,” the young woman told him. “Meaning I’ll prolly be in the kitchen.”

“Works for me,” Rob agreed, leaning down to give her a gentle kiss.

It didn’t take him long to take care of business so he could head to the kitchen, where the Silver Fox found his young wife scrounging up lunch. She’d been having some of the weirdest cravings ever since finding out she was pregnant, but that wasn’t the only odd thing. Even _he’d_ started craving some of the same shit, and he hadn’t quite believed the original OB/GYN when she’d said that might happen.

“Gotta have your greens again, huh?” he chuckled.

“And more green than purple again, at that,” Aerin laughed, working on a version of what she called her _Ostara salad_.

“Hey, it’s a good thing, so I’m not knocking it,” the Silver Fox told her. “Means you’re taking care of those babies _and_ yourself, so I’m all for it.”

“Damn well better be,” she retorted. “Especially since it’s making _you_ take care of yourself better, too.”

“Don’t fuckin’ remind me,” Rob laughed. “Waking up wanting pickles and ketchup for no apparent reason in the middle of the Night’s fuckin’ weird.”

“Not my fault,” the young woman said with a devious grin. “Not like I impregnated myself, nor pick my cravings.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he dead-panned, his own grin never diminishing as he rolled his eyes. “But speaking of said pregnancy…”

Aerin cocked a brow as she stuffed a bite of her salad into her mouth, grimacing at the strength of her dressing at first.

“When I said I was talking to Bret, it was ’cuz he called me,” the Silver Fox told her. “Apparently, the guys were wanting to look into setting up a Summer tour next Year.”

“So, what’dja tell him?” she asked before stuffing another bite in her mouth.

“That they’d better not, if they wanted _me_ on that stage with them,” Rob answered. “That I wasn’t leaving my wife alone with even a single baby immediately after delivery.”

“Ya actually told him?” The young woman looked a bit miffed.

“He’s sworn to Secrecy till we’re actually ready to tell anyone else,” he assured her. “He knows that if he crosses someone like me with a Secretive bent as strong as his own, the consequences won’t behoove him.”

Aerin still seemed a bit miffed as she chewed her next bite, then washed it down before she actually responded to him. She said she wasn’t quite sure Bret’d actually keep his word and not tell anyone, if only ’cuz she still didn’t know him nearly as well. For all she knew, he might keep his mouth shut for a while, then eventually cave to the other half of the band’s peer pressure. Then again, he might leak it to the media, thinking he’d gain something outta making such an announcement _for_ his friend.

Rob didn’t exactly blame her for feeling that way, ’cuz he admitted that there were Times he felt that way about the vocalist, himself. But he knew after having known him for almost forty Years that with something like this, the blonde knew damn good and well how serious he was. If he dared open his mouth without his–and therefore _her_ –permission, he could run the consequence of him not speaking to him for a while at best, flat-out quitting the band at worst. Either way, he wouldn’t wanna take his chances with either of those possibilities, especially the latter since it’d tear their band apart from the inside out.

Sighing, the young woman said that she couldn’t really blame him for telling him just so they wouldn’t go setting up something that ultimately wouldn’t happen without a replacement. That didn’t mean she was happy about him doing it without discussing it with her first, but she didn’t exactly blame him. He couldn’t help heaving a sigh of relief, thanking his lucky Balefires he hadn’t just ripped his relationship to shreds over this.

By the Time _Yule_ and Christmas rolled around a lil over a month later, Aerin’d made it past what they considered the _Danger zone_ in her pregnancy. Well, not quite past it since she was only eleven weeks, as of December twentieth, but close enough for gov’ment work. Since she’d be hitting that milestone of twelve weeks just two Days after Christmas, she figured they might as well finally break their newsta those who didn’t already know while they were out East to celebrate _Yule_.

The Pagan Sabbat in question was basically the roots of the more Modern Christmas celebration, just with a few added Elements. Considering that the Sabbat was Primarily in celebration of the Winter Solstice–which happened to be at roughly eleven in the Morn on the twenty-first–they’d invited any friends and family who wanted to join out to Tenn. It also served the purpose of letting folks like Rob’s older brother, nieces, and nephews see their new home, not to mention meet the young woman for the first Time. Neither of them could think of a better Time to share their news before everybody headed home for their own celebrations.

“Hey there, Butch!” she heard from the kitchen.

“Boy, how many Times’ve I to tell ya that I hate that nickname now?” a similar voice laughed in response.

“You’re never gonna get me to quit calling ya that since ya refuseta quit calling me Bobby,” the Silver Fox retorted.

Aerin bit back a giggle as she heard him and whoever he’d greeted giving each other a friendly smack on the back.

“Get on in here and outta the cold,” he laughed.

“Yeah, it’s definitely cold out there,” their visitor agreed, another couple voices chiming in on that agreement. “Not as cold as at home in Penn, but definitely not as warm as where ya _used_ to live, either.”

“Speaking of, _why_ wouldja leave somewhere like Florida to move North, as much as ya say ya hate the cold, Uncle Bobby?” This was asked by a feminine voice.

“’Cuz a man in Love’ll do some stupid things sometimes, girlie,” Rob answered. “C’mon, and we can getcha introduced to my reason, herself.”

The young woman kept her attention on a recipe she knew only she and a couple others were likely to indulge in a slight amount of, considering it was alcoholic, as she heard a group of footsteps heading toward the kitchen. Her husband’s footsteps were Silent in comparison when compared to the rest of the group’s since he’d been wearing only socks, but she knew he was there. She was good enough at Energy work that she could sense his presence long before he wrapped his arms around her from behind, which made her laugh.

“Smells _soooo_ fuckin’ good, sweetheart,” he chuckled. “Too bad I’m not a drinkin’ man anymore.”

“Hey, I offered to try it with sparkling Grape juice and see how it turned out so ya could!” Aerin laughed, knocking one of the Cloves that’d stuck to her stirring spoon back into her pot before laying said spoon down.

“I doubt that’s gonna taste as good,” the Silver Fox told her. “But hey, it still smells good, so I’ll take what I can get, if it means behaving myself.”

“Ya damn well better, or I’ll bean ya with a skillet,” she warned him, turning in his armsta face him.

Rob simply hummed into the kiss he leaned down to give her, then straightened so he could turn. “Well, say _Hi_ to my big brother, Butch, and my niece and nephew, Kelly and Kegan.”

“I prefer Don, which he well knows,” the ginger man she was faced with chuckled.

“Oh, you’ll have a new nickname by the Time ya leave here,” Aerin warned him, a smirk crossing her lips as she moved to hug him in typical Southern fashion.

“And what nickname could _that_ possibly be, sweetheart?” her husband asked as she moved to hug even his niece and nephew.

_“Ginger Rob,”_ the young woman snickered. “’Cuz he looks like you, just with red hair and blue eyes.”

The whole group couldn’t help a laugh, which helped to dispel some of the tension.

“I’m not sure that’s any better than Butch, but it’s certainly funnier,” Don laughed.

“Eh, a quote-unquote friend of mine got me started on that before I even met your brother a couple Years ago,” she admitted with a shrug. “She swore up and down that y’all looked almost identical, and I didn’t quite believe her–till she sent me a picture of ya that she somehow found.”

“Anywhore, this is my wife, Aerin,” Rob said once the laughter died down.

“Wait, you’re really together?” his niece, Kelly, asked as a shocked look settled over her face.

“Don’t knock a girl having a few _Daddy issues_ when she ain’t scared to show it,” Aerin warned her. “’Cuz at least I’m honest–brutally so, at Times–even if I _am_ young enough to be Zoe.”

The Silver Fox gave his niece a warning look of his own when she started to say something else that he got the feeling was gonna be insulting. He made no bones about his wife having stolen his heart ’cuz she hadn’t even tried, and that if she didn’t like the age difference between them, she could leave. Well, he used a phrase said wife’d taught him– _don’t let the door hitcha in the ass on the way out_ –but he still got his point across pretty clearly.

Don wasn’t quite sure what to make of that, but he’d known his baby brother almost from the moment he was born. Whether anyone else knew him half as well or not, _he_ knew damn good and well that when he said something like that–especially to his family–he wasn’t playing around. He meant every word he said, and he said every word he meant, so there was no doubting his seriousness on the matter.

Wanting to ease the tension, Aerin told them she wouldn’t have let them invite him invite them, if she hadn’t been okay with it. Had that been the case, they wouldn’t have invited what lil of her own blood family were on their way to play fair. She was nothing beyond brutally honest, if not fair and just, so she wouldn’t have asked anything of her husband that she wasn’t willing to give or do, herself. As long as everybody could get along, even if they didn’t necessarily agree with something, they were more than welcome to stay and celebrate with them.

“In that case, I guess my question’s why we’re celebrating Christmas a few Days early,” her brother-in-law said, settling on one of the bar stools at the peninsula counter that separated kitchen from breakfast nook.

“Not Christmas–the _roots_ of it,” Aerin corrected him, stirring her delicious-smelling concoction again.

“Huh?” Even the young man who was essentially her nephew now looked confused.

“She’s talking about the Pagan Sabbat of _Yule.”_

Looking up, she saw that Ash and Aidan’d let themselves, her Aint Laura, and her Uncles Jr. and Gary Lynn in since the other couple’d been given a key.

“Hey there, sis,” the younger bassist chuckled, giving her a gentle hug before giving her man a one-armed hug, as was typical of guys.

“Merry meet, bro,” she laughed.

“Yeah, that,” Rob agreed with a chuckle as he moved on to Aidan and the others.

“Get on in here for a good ol’ Bear-hug!” Laura laughed.

“Ack–now I know where _Aerin_ gets it from!” he said with a laugh of his own as the woman’s tight hug actually popped his back. “Damn, maybe we need to getcha up here from Georgia more often so ya can do that again!”

“All right, to play nice,” the young woman chuckled. “These’re Rob’s brother, niece, and nephew.”

“A pleasure,” Don said, shaking the mens’ hands. “The name’s Don, but you’ll prolly hear me getting called Butch quite a bit.”

“As much as that ginger version of me’s gonna call me Bobby till I tell him why none of us do,” the Silver Fox told them.

Ash’s expression turned a bit horrified. “Dude, seriously– _don’t_ do that today, even if that’s whatcha normally call your brother. We don’t need a hormonal woman getting set off.”

Naturally, the ginger version of her husband looked as confused as his kids as even Aidan gave him a horrified look. Said husband was quick to grab her and pull her against his chest for a hug as his younger equivalent pulled up that old picture of her pappaw before handing his phone over. Glasses were readjusted before three sets of eyes turned their attention to the screen, and it didn’t take long for three gaspsta ring out.

“Holy–who on Earth’s this?” Don asked.

Laura peeked over his shoulder. “My lil brother,” she answered once she’d gotten a good look.

“Wait, seriously?” The ginger man glanced back at her, his kids looking up from his other side.

“He was about thirty there, give or take,” the elderly woman said, nodding. “If I hadn’t known any better, I’d have sworn it was _your_ brother at first.”

“Yep, that’s definitely Bob,” Gary Lynn agreed after taking the phone so he and his own older brother could see.

His and his kids’ eyes widened when this man’s name was revealed, the younger bassist’s words suddenly clicking for them. They were quick to apologize, but Aerin was quick to wave off their apologies since they hadn’t gotten a chanceta tell them before now. She just warned them not to make the same mistake twice, now that they knew–an honest mistake was forgivable, but knowingly antagonizing her wasn’t. Besides, this Time of Year was already hard enough to get through for her, just like those three Days in October–she didn’t need to be antagonized, whether she was hormonal or not.

As she pulled away from Rob so she could stir her concoction again, she explained that the Year before her pappaw’s Death was the last Christmas he’d seen. Not even ten months later, they were holding his funeral in the yard of the house she’d lived in at the Time before heading across town to put him in the ground. But it was something her mother’d done–which she’d never forgive–that made this Time of Year so hard for her.

The Thunder Cloud that settled over her face warned even Aidan and Ash that trouble was afoot, and they weren’t sure they wanted her to get into it. But they knew how their friend was as well as the Silver Fox did–if they tried to stop her once she was in the mood to talk about it, they may never get it outta her. Even if it was painful for her to talk about, it could be just as cathartic–and if it was the only Time they got her to talk about it, they were better off letting her.

“That Year, the heat pump lost its connection to the house,” the young woman Began. “No electricity running to it, no heat–I shouldn’t have to say that’d give _anyone_ a sleepless Night.”

“I think that’s pretty much a given,” her brother-in-law agreed, nodding.

“The next Morn–which was Christmas Morn, by the way–my mother did the unthinkable, just ’cuz I was grumpy and not fully awake from what _lil_ sleep I actually managed to get,” Aerin continued. “While I was outside for a smoke, she told the others–my grandparents and kid brother–to take all the presents but mine to the other End of the house. She told me that if I was gonna act like that, I wasn’t welcome to join ’em–and without even giving me a chanceta pep up.”

Everyone’s eyes widened in shock, even those of the rest of Poison and their kids, who’d just let themselves in.

“I didn’t even get to spend his last Christmas with him before he…” She gritted her teeth, biting back the sob wanting out as Rob grabbed her for another hug.

“It’s all right, sweetheart,” he murmured, one hand cupping the base of her skull while the other rubbed her back. “You’re quite literally surrounded by family who love ya–or _will_ before it’s all said and done–and wanna celebrate with ya.”

“And not all of us’re blood family,” Ash reminded her. “You’re the baby sister I never had, if you’ll recall.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Aerin said, managing a chuckle. “Aidan, keep an eye on my masterpiece since I don’t wanna tempt Rob–if I don’t go Ground and Center myself, this _Yule_ celebration’s gonna go South with a quickness.”

“Do I even wanna know what it is?” the ginger woman asked curiously.

_“Solstice Mulled Wine,”_ she laughed. “I left the brandy out since it’s optional and _we,_ in particular don’t need any more alcohol than necessary, but yeah…”

Nodding, Aidan gladly took over the stove for the moment, waving the Wooden spoon she’d been using at her own _fiancé_ threateningly. She gave him a hard look and said that even _he_ wasn’t getting into this beyond maybe a glass, ’cuz she wasn’t dealing with a drunken him on top of pregnancy. Even the cheeky grin said younger bassist gave her couldn’t get her to Change her mind, but _did_ give the others a good laugh as their best friend headed out the back door.

Rob sighed as he watched his wife head down the porch stairs that led to the pool, knowing she wouldn’t stay outside for long, as cold as it was. Like he’d told that Jared saleswoman only three months ago when trying to find the perfect ring, she definitely loved keeping folks on their toes. His younger equivalent was right in saying there was no use trying to figure her out, ’cuz every Time ya thoughtcha did, she threw another curve ball. But that was one of his many reasons for wanting to stay with her, even when he got weird looks for it or folks asking if they were father and daughter. The young woman was a puzzle he didn’t think he’d ever truly solve, and he’d admit that he loved nothing more than a good challenge.


	42. Forty-One

“So, how’s she doing?”

Rob glanced up from checking on the ham that was currently in the oven, not surprised to see the one band member he’d say’d been his best friend ever since they met. The vocalist’s hip was propped against the End of the counter so he was outta his way, but so that they could keep their voices low and still hear each other. He’d already grabbed one of his wife’s books on the Sabbats outta Curiosity and read the chapter about _Yule,_ so he wasn’t particularly interested in the explanation Ash was giving to the clueless in the living room.

Sighing as he straightened, he turned so he could wash his hands and get started on the other part of lunch since the ham’d be done at prolly the same Time, if he played his cards right. He almost didn’t wanna answer the question he’d been asked, but he knew how that’d go–Bret’d just keep pushing him till he blurted out something he shouldn’t just yet, and far too loudly, at that.

“We’re both doing better,” the Silver Fox told him. “And before ya ask, I say that ’cuz _I’ve_ been feeling it, too.”

“Wait, what?” He looked both surprised and confused.

“As in, I wound up with her Morn sickness in the form of _Sympathy_ sickness,” Rob chuckled. “Hell, if not for the Pepto in my system, I prolly couldn’t handle smelling this ham without losing my breakfast.”

“Yikes.” The vocalist winced as he watched him move to start grabbing ingredients from the fridge. “At least that’s _not_ the case, even if it’s ’cuz you’re technically drugged right now.”

“Hey, I’ll take being drugged over losing even Water any Day of the week!” he chuckled, moving back to the island with Onions, Carrots, and Taters in his hands. “Course, the weird cravings’re just downright–well, weird, no matter how ya look at it.”

“Do I even wanna know?” Bret asked with a chuckle of his own.

“Try waking up at three in the Morn, my stomach _demanding_ pickles and ketchup for no apparent reason,” the Silver Fox laughed. “And at the same Time _she_ was experiencing that particular craving, too.”

“Ah, dude–that’s just gross!” he laughed.

“Tell me about it, man,” Rob dead-panned as he grabbed one of his best knives outta the knife block. “Make yourself useful, if you’re gonna talk my ear off.”

“What’re we supposed to be having?” the vocalist asked, moving to wash his own hands before taking the Tater peeler he was handed.

“Something Aerin calls _Winter Solstice Soup_ to go with that tangy, honey-glazed ham,” he answered. “She’s all sortsa recipes geared toward each Sabbat, and these’re just two for this one.”

Bret made no bones about hoping there was gonna be some kinda greens in there, as Balanced as he tried to keep his own diet for his diabetes. He couldn’t help a laugh as he said that he was pretty sure that could be rectified pretty easily, but he’d have to check his wife’s homemade cookbook. If he threw off the theme of her celebration a lil too much, he’d never hear the End of it, and he didn’t want that happening.

It wasn’t long before he heard Aerin’s voice coming from the front door, which made his brow furrow as he looked up from measuring out the herbs he needed, now that the veggies were in his own pot. She’d headed out the back door to where she’d set up her Sacred Circle at the End of the pool, so her coming back in the front door struck him as a bit odd. But his question as to why she’d chosen to reenter the house through that particular door was answered before he could even ask it. Hot on her heels was a young woman he swore looked vaguely familiar, but couldn’t place for the Life of him.

“Well, damn–if it isn’t lil Miss Eil!” Rikki laughed as the women made it into the living room.

“Been a while, for sure,” the woman responded, leaning down to give him a hug. “You, too, C.”

“Only since this Summer,” said blonde laughed as he, too, pulled her into a hug.

“Where’re the other two?” she asked as she straightened.

“Apparently about to blow up the kitchen,” Aerin snickered.

“Well, hey there, Eilfie,” Bret laughed as she led her into the breakfast nook.

“Good to see ya again, Bret,” she chuckled. “I’d give ya a hug, but it looks like you’ve been put to work.”

“Yeah, kinda,” the vocalist answered with a chuckle of his own. “But hey, only room for so many over here, and the next best chef was taking care of something else.”

Rob cocked his head as he studied her, miming face-palming when it hit him. “I thoughtcha looked familiar, girl.”

“As many Times as I’ve gotten to come backstage, I should,” Eilfie laughed, then turned to his wife. “Finally managed to snag the Silver Fox, huh?”

“Without even trying,” said wife answered with a grin. “I guess my Siren Song worked, and I didn’t even mean for it to.”

“Damn right, that Siren Song bewitched me,” he chuckled, leaning down for a kiss once she was close enough. “But I’m quite happy being bewitched, so it’s all good.”

The Silver Fox leaned down so he could whisper something in her ear, to which she nodded as he headed off to introduce the young woman he now remembered meeting a few different Timesta his blood relatives. Aerin’d been thinking about fulfilling his request before he’d even made it, considering she wasn’t far from heading to the master bathroom for herself. However, she wanted to get the soup her husband had started for her going good before she did that, figuring he’d already checked the ham again.

In the living room, Rob introduced Eilfie to everyone she hadn’t already met, which included even his own kids, as he settled in his recliner. She seemed pleased to meet everyone, up to and including his wife’s relatives, but that didn’t distract his drummer in the slightest. The tallest blonde cocked a brow at him as he noticed how–for once in his Life–he didn’t set the chair into motion almost as soon as he sat down.

Luckily, the young woman he’d handfasted with Returned to the living room before he could question him, which opened a perfect doorway for them. He gladly took what she handed him, ignoring the surprised looks shot at him by the half of his band who didn’t already know. Even though being a good boy and taking his medicine made him grimace–much to his wife’s amusement–like he always did, he’d much rather this than the alternative. Maybe he’d actually stand a chance of keeping his lunch down as much as he’d managed to keep his breakfast down that Morn once this shit kicked in.

“All right, man–what’s up with ya?” CC asked.

“I don’t ever think I’ve seen ya _willingly_ take Pepto in the decades I’ve known ya,” the drummer added.

“Hey, I’d rather take that nasty shit right now and be able to keep my lunch down,” he laughed as he screwed the lid back on the bottle, then stuck its lil measuring cup back on top.

“Here, here,” Aerin agreed with a giggle.

“Wait, _you,_ too?” The lead guitarist looked surprised.

“Whoddaya think’s causing _Rob’s_ misery?” she countered with a smirk. “Course, it’s his own fault.”

The tallest and shortest blondes of his band shot each other a look before turning back to them.

“We’ve an announcement to make since everybody’s already in one spot,” Rob chuckled, gently pulling her down into his lap.

“Oh, this is gonna be good,” Rikki said. “Lay it on us, dude.”

“Well, think about how Bret’s claimed he couldn’t get in touch with me about a Summer tour for next Year,” he told him, which made Eilfie’s eyes light up.

“Yeah, and we didn’t believe him for a second,” CC retorted. “He was being too evasive to be believable.”

“He was sworn to Secrecy, ’cuz he knew what I’d do, if he opened his big mouth,” the Silver Fox laughed.

“Yeah–refuseta speak to any of us, especially me, for a while or tear the band to shreds by quitting,” said vocalist agreed, unable to help his grin. “And sorry, not sorry, but I’d rather put that Secretive bent of a Piscesta work than to get on your bad side _like that.”_

“So, what’s he been sworn to Secrecy over and actually kept his mouth shut on?” the drummer asked.

“The long and short of it–we found out during our honeymoon that Aerin’s pregnant,” Rob answered, a grin of his own splitting his face.

Naturally, pretty much everyone except Bret, Ash, Aidan, and his kids were surprised by the news and took a few momentsta process it. If that lone quintet hadn’t known, they’d have prolly been just as surprised before practically exploding into congratulatory cheers. Once everybody Calmed down so they could actually be heard, they knew damn good and well there were gonna be questions galore. First and foremost, they wanted to know how far along she was, and neither of them were surprised that topped the list.

“As of yesterday, eleven weeks,” the young woman answered. “That’s assuming I actually conceived when we _think_ I did, not a Day or two later, of course.”

“And when was _that,_ pray tell?” CC asked, grinning since he thought he’d an idea already.

“The Night of a certain proposal,” she laughed. “By the way, you’re welcome for emptying the trash the next Morn so ya wouldn’t have to worry about _that_ mess.”

“I’d be surprised, if that wasn’t the case,” the lead guitarist chuckled. “The two of ya kept me up half the Night, but it was my own fault.”

Aerin couldn’t help cocking a brow at her husband, who joined his chuckling.

“I warned him we were gonna turn into Animals, sweetheart,” he said. “When Shannon wouldn’t let him spend the Night with her upon taking Vallon back, _he’s_ the one who chose not to ask Bret or Rikki.”

“I _thought_ I felt another presence in the house that Night,” the young woman laughed. “But, as we both know, I was quickly distracted.”

“Especially once we started getting each other with those Pop Rocks,” Rob snickered, earning himself a gentle elbow to his ribs. “Spousal abuse!”

“I’ma _show ya_ what spousal abuse is, if ya keep on,” she told him.

“Do we even _wanna_ know what he means by the Pop Rocks trick?” Bret asked, looking confused.

“Not fit for lil ears,” Aidan spoke up with a laugh. “And I know, ’cuz _I’m_ the one that taught it to her.”

“Completely by accident, but hey, it works,” Aerin said, a look that was a bit _too_ innocent crossing her face.

There wasn’t a Soul in the room who didn’t crack up when she said that, especially when they took in her expression. Despite the oh, so innocent look written all over her face, there was a devious sparkle to her eyes that bespoke trouble ahead for her husband. Well, maybe it wouldn’t exactly be trouble, if whatever trick they were talking about got employed on him at any point.

“All right, I gotta know,” the vocalist said once Zach, Zoe, and their cousins’d taken the minors downstairsta play video games for a lil while.

“Ya sure about that, Michaels?” he asked, his grin turning devious.

“If it’s good enough to make ya keep mentioning it, hell yeah,” Bret answered.

“Let’s just say I never thought Pop Rocks could send me over the edge into a mind-blowing orgasm–till she got me with a mouthful of the lil bastards in CC’s downstairs guest room,” the Silver Fox revealed with a snicker.

“Wait, what?” Even Rikki looked surprised.

“Let’s just say I don’t give head very often, but when I do–well, my mouth’s more talented than you’d think,” Aerin laughed. “Tormenting him right to the brink a couple Times before I dumped a handful of Pop Rocks in my mouth and went back to it ’bout rebooted his brain.”

_“About?”_ Rob snorted. “It think it _did,_ sweetheart, or ya wouldn’t have a couple buns in the oven right now.”

“Wait, did I just hear that right?” CC asked. “’Cuz I swear I heard _a couple_ come outta his mouth.”

“That’s ’cuz ya _did,”_ she said. “Definitely wasn’t expecting to find out it’s twins when I first started suspecting I was pregnant the Morn we handfasted.”

Neither of them were surprised when Laura and his own family looked confused by what she meant, his brother actually asking what was on all their minds. Aerin didn’t mind explaining that they weren’t legally wed, but rather in more of a Spiritual and symbolic manner, instead. If she’d her way about it, they weren’t _ever_ gonna legally wed since she was perfectly happy with stopping at handfasting. After all, that left them open to seeing other people simultaneously, if they so desired, not to mention meant they could split up easier–and far more cheaply–should their relationship ever break down to that point.

Judging by the looks of things, though, not even Don thought their relationship’d ever deteriorate to the point of them splitting up. It was pretty obviousta him that his baby brother was genuinely happy with this woman, even though she was young enough to be his daughter. As long as he was happy with her, he couldn’t really say anything about it, whether he agreed or disagreed with his choices.

The young woman was soon pushing herself up outta his lap, which made Rob mock an adorable pout that made her laugh as she turned around to give him a quick kiss. If the scents wafting outta the kitchen were anything to judge by, it was almost Time for lunch, which made just about everybody happy. But it was the Sound emitted by his stomach–which made him turn a Light shade of pink as everybody laughed again–that really proved that lunch needed to be soon.

After throwing together her choice salad of the Season to suit even Bret, Aerin called her husband into the kitchen. He was all too happy to join her, knowing that she wanted him to come carve the meat while she was tossing said salad. Minutes later, they were both calling folks in so they could serve themselves while they headed back to the living room with their own plates. The youngest of the group were relegated to the table in the breakfast nook to avoid having a messta clean up, Eilfie joining them so they didn’t feel left out. Everyone else was split up between the actual dining room, the den, and the living room, depending on where each person was comfortable. Well, it also depended on who they wanted to socialize with while they were eating, too, but the important thing was that they were all enjoying each other’s company.

Once everyone’d finished their lunch, they all got up long enough for the hosting couple to load the dishwasher before merely lazing around the living room for a bit. Said couple seemed like they felt a bit nauseous, but assured everyone they’d be fine as they let their food settle. They’d both prolly eaten just a hair too much since their Pepto’d kicked in, which they shoulda known better than to do. Making sure they took it easy for a bit’d solve that relatively quickly, and if it didn’t–well, one’d be heading for the bathroom, the other outside.

It was the young, expectant woman who knew what was up next besides her and Rob getting started on dinner since there were a few things took a lil while to manage. To be quite honest, it was actually getting ingredients mixed together correctly that took the longest aside from cleanup. After they’d gotten their head-start on dinner so it wouldn’t take as long later, the _real_ festivities’d Begin in earnest. Only Aerin knew how that Beginning was gonna start, ’cuz she was the one who’d planned this part out based on various Knowledge she’d acquired, but never used. She hadn’t even told her husband just so she could surprise even him, and surprised, she knew he’d be once she laid out the premise for everybody.


	43. Forty-Two

As she and the Silver Fox were working on a multitude of different dishes–which included Orange-Cranberry Chicken for Ash’s vegan Self–Aerin wasn’t surprised to hear the young woman who was actually younger than her ask about the Summer tour that’d been mentioned earlier. It was actually this young woman she’d been referring to when she said _quote-unquote friend_ while talking to Don earlier–she just hadn’t admitted it yet. But she knew she was gonna have to eventually, whether by her own choice or ’cuz something else got mentioned that gave it away.

“I mean, it’s easily six months away, if y’all stick to more or less the same schedule as this Year and the last couple tours y’all did before now,” Eilfie was saying.

“I know that, Eilfie,” Rob chuckled. “But there’s a few too many things in the mixing bowl that’s gonna make a really bad cake, if I throw it in the oven, so to speak.”

The youngest woman cocked a brow at him, her arms crossed as she took a stubborn stance similar to his wife’s.

“Think back on the announcement the guys made about me needing surgery in early-September,” he said.

“Yeah, they said something about appendicitis, but I never believed that,” Eilfie admitted.

“’Cuz it wasn’t,” the Silver Fox told her. “Let’s just say the phrase _shit your guts out_ takes on a whole new meaning in my household nowadays and leave it at that while food’s in progress and/or we’re about to eat, though.”

Her eyes widened as she wondered exactly what coulda happened to him for him to be saying that.

“That said, I’m three and a-half months outta surgery, but the doc said it could take more like six monthsta make a full recovery,” Rob explained. “Sure, I prolly _could_ do a Summer tour, since that’d put me as being fully Healed in March–but therein comes another problem.”

“He means that, if we did the math right, my due date’s supposed to be around Independence Day,” his wife spoke up before she could ask. “With it being twins, though, I’m anticipating ’em being born up to a month early–which’d put their birthday in more like late-May or prolly early-June.”

Eilfie’s eyes widened as the puzzle pieces started to fit together for her, and his reason for saying no to a Summer tour _next_ Year started to make more sense. Whether his wife gave Birth on Time or early, he’d have to leave and hit the road almost as soon as the babies were born. No doubt he didn’t wanna leave her with too much on her plate, no help besides his kids since her best friends’d also admitted to expecting a baby of their own that they’d be busy with. Besides, he’d said in plenty of past interviews that Zach and Zoe were his number one, his work ethic was number two, and the rush he got from playing live was number three. It only stood to reason that his wife’d become his number two, thus pushing the other two down a slot on his list.

“Like I told Bret when he actually got in touch with me about it last month, not gonna happen _next_ Year, if they want _me_ on that stage with them,” the Silver Fox said. “If they wanna go out with Eric Brittingham, anyone else of their choosing, even Ash, that’s fine–but I’m not.”

“Hey, I get it,” the youngest woman assured him. “You’ve said before that your kids’re your number one, so I don’t see why that wouldn’t apply to the unborn ones, too.”

Rob couldn’t help a chuckle as he nodded. “I remember saying that a few Years ago–and Aerin’s since become my number two, which pushes my work ethic and the rush I get to numbers three and four, respectively.”

“I kinda figured, just based on how y’all were acting in the living room,” Eilfie laughed. “But I think that’s a no-brainer for anyone with functioning eyeballs.”

“And that’s another reason I don’t wanna tour again so soon,” he admitted. “She and I haven’t gotten nearly as much Time together as you’d think for a couple who’s been such for over a Year.”

“I was living in Nashville with Ash and Aidan, he was still living in Florida,” Aerin chuckled when even her brother-in-law, niece, and nephew looked curious. “Our meeting was a chance one, ’cuz Ash arranged to rent out someone’s guest room after that shutdown so we could take a vacation–and it turned out to be _Rob’s_ guest room.”

“I _still_ get amused by thinking back on how the first words outta your mouth were a request to smack ya before ya did something stupid,” the Silver Fox laughed. “Especially considering that he _actually_ did it.”

“Hey, like we said back then, she’d have whacked me one back, if she hadn’t been serious,” his younger equivalent cackled.

“And since she _didn’t,_ it was pretty obvious she was being serious,” Rob said. “Besides, I’ve seen her sock ya one since–that’s why I don’t do shit I know’ll get me on the receiving End of _that.”_

His wife grinned as she held out her fist like she was gonna fist-bump him when Don cocked a brow, telling him to take note of how small her hand was, whether it was fisted or open. Once he’d seen the size of her hand–which her husband then proved the difference in by holding out his own–she said that she’d been known to pack punches that’d make someone think she’d hands the size of said husband’s or bigger. Even when she was just playfully socking someone in the arm, she could often hit harder than she meant to–when she was actually _trying_ to do damage, it got even worse.

“Not only that, but ask Aint Laura, or even my uncles,” she said. “They’ll tell ya that if you’re a Crosswhite by blood, you’re already gonna have a _fight-dirty_ kinda personality.”

“Ain’t that the Truth, girl?” Laura laughed. “I _still_ remember Daddy throwing the older boys–your pappaw included–into a regulation boxing ring and telling ’em to have at each other!”

“Woulda been long before either one of us were born,” Gary Lynn chuckled, gesturing between himself and his own older brother. “Then again, he did that with us, younger boys, too.”

“But we were all raised to pick up the nearest blunt object and just beat somebody with it, rather than bloodying our knuckles,” Jr. said. “And our kids–not to mention grandkids, in a lotta cases–seem to’ve been raised the same way.”

“Well, I was raised more so to _finish_ a fight, rather than _start_ one,” Aerin admitted. “But if finishing it means falling back on that ol’ Crosswhite mentality–well, I’ma beat somebody straight into the morgue, if I gotta.”

“And that’s just one of the many ways ya ensnared my heart without even trying,” the Silver Fox chuckled. “I love your _do no harm, but take no shit_ personality, ’cuz I’m the same way. And don’t even get me started on how kind, caring, and tender-heartedja _really_ are with those who know ya best.”

“Sounds like she’s a helluva woman in a lotta different ways, lil brother,” Don said, unable to help his smile.

He couldn’t help a smile of his own as he admitted that she was definitely that, mostly in all the best ways with a few bad ones thrown in. One Prime example was how he’d been able to talk her into joining him and the guys onstage at the Nashville show for _Something to Believe In,_ and she’d wound up graciously joining the rest of the tour as a result. Another that topped his list was how she’d practically _mother Hen’d_ him to Death when he’d first started his recovery a few months ago.

“I mean, it was mostly when I was drugged or obviously in pain,” Rob admitted. “But even when she wasn’t feeling good herself, she’d toss that aside and still take care of me like a baby.”

“Damn, really?” Kegan asked, a surprised look on his face.

“If you’ve ever had a boil, ya know how painful those lil bat-rastards are,” the young woman said.

“Oh, God–you’ve found out what a Joy they are, too, huh?” her aunt asked, sarcasm veritably dripping from her words.

“Unfortunately–and no, I ain’t saying where mine pops up, ’cuz those things’re gross enough, as is,” she chuckled. “But it decided to pop up right after Rob was discharged, so I was dealing with that _and_ taking care of him at the same Time.”

“And that was on top of having been snapped at more often than not for the better part of a week at that point,” the Silver Fox said as he slipped that Orange-Cranberry Chicken into the upper oven. “Then again, I dunno a man who _wouldn’t_ snap at even the woman he loves when he feels like he’s being gutted, to put it lightly.”

“Neither do I,” his brother agreed. “Hell, I’m pretty laid-back for a ginger, and I can’t say that even _I_ wouldn’t, if I felt like that.”

“I pretty much gave this woman every reason and then some to cheat on me with CC while we were crashing with him,” Rob admitted. “Yet, she _still_ toughed it out and said _yes_ when I asked her to handfast with me a month after I wound up in the hospital.”

“It takes a special woman to deal with a tour on top of all that and still say _yes,”_ Laura said.

“Which’s part of my reason for not wanting to tour again next Summer,” he told them. “If I’ma do such a thing with two new babies, at least let us get them to the point of sleeping through the Night so it’s easier on _her_ before ya drag me off.”

Nobody in the room, especially those with kids of their own, could deny that that was prolly the smarter thing to do, no matter how much he did or didn’t truly wanna hit the road again. Having two new babies was already gonna be hard enough with both of them available to care for them–dumping two newborns off on his wife’d just be a good way to see his relationship into its grave, so to speak. And demanding his older kids help care for them in his absence when he could easily choose not to hit the road again just yet simply wasn’t fair to Zach and Zoe since they weren’t intimately involved in their conception.

“So, it’s not that I truly _don’t_ wanna tour again–I just wanna plan it out a lil better,” Rob said. “Besides, after what happened in September–well, let’s just say it put me in touch with my mortality a lil better than anything has since I fucked up my neck onstage in ’01.”

“Jeez, had to’ve _really_ been bad since that putcha in pretty good touch with your mortality, from what I recall reading online,” Eilfie winced.

“I’m still more than a lil curious whatcha mean, lil brother,” Don spoke up.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn ya, if my getting into it right now costs your appetite,” the Silver Fox snickered.

“He ain’t kidding when he says it might just do that,” Aerin agreed with a laugh of her own.

“Seriously, man,” the drummer grumbled. “Count me out for this part–I’ll let my kids drag my popsicle Self back inside before I relive _that.”_

Even the youngest woman looked surprised as he rose and grabbed his coat, then headed onto the back porch to wait for somebody to tell him it was safe to come back in.

“He actually saw what happened first-hand, so he doesn’t really like thinking about it,” he chuckled. “Not that I really blame him, ’cuz I don’t like thinking about it, either.”

The rest of the group who hadn’t actually seen what’d happened that September Eve suddenly weren’t too sure they actually _wanted_ to hear, but their Curiosity was eating at them too much. Eilfie’s was prolly eating at her the worst, if only ’cuz of how much of a Poison fan she’d been since she was a young child, much like his wife’d been.

“When he says the phrase _shit your guts out_ takes on a whole new meaning for us, he ain’t kidding,” said wife started.

“Severe dehydration–particularly toward the End of the tour–led to some nasty constipation,” Rob told them, pushing his glasses up. _“That_ wound up turning into a full-on intestinal blockage in the Space of about three Days.”

“Jesus, no Wonder ya saidja felt like ya were being gutted, boy,” Gary Lynn winced.

“Well, that wasn’t the only reason,” he admitted. “Trying to go so hard for so long essentially sheared parts away from my pelvic wall that weren’t supposed to be sheared away, and that was actually what was causing a lotta my pain.”

Don’s eyes widened as he suddenly figured out what he was talking about. “It caused a rectal prolapse, didn’t it?”

“I’m surprisedja already knew the medical term,” the Silver Fox chuckled, nodding.

“I heard Mom and Patty talking about it a few Times before they both died,” he told him. “That, and its uterine equivalent in women.”

“My mom and sister, Gods rest their Souls, were both nurses before they passed,” Rob explained when his wife’s relatives looked confused. “They saw, heard, and did shit a lotta folks’d never Dream of, kinda like I have–just in different ways.”

“From what I heard _them_ say, it’s a hard recovery to make,” the ginger man said. “Especially when you’ve to have an open-abdominal surgery to repair it.”

“And it _is_ –I know, ’cuz that’s the very type of surgery I’d to have,” he agreed. “Course, that was _after_ they apparently dosed me with Fentanyl just to get me to quit crying so they could haul me outta what was supposed to be our last venue this Year and into the ambulance.”

Since he didn’t remember as much after that point for obvious reasons, he shot a glance at his wife, who nodded. Aerin explained how they’d attempted to correct his issue down in the ER, but were simply unable to due to the amount of exposed tissue. When combined with needing to have it anchored back to his pelvic wall, they’d decided their best and really _only_ course of action was that open-abdominal surgery.

Even Don couldn’t help a wince at the Thought of his baby brother being brought outta surgery and kept admitted for even a few Days after that. Knowing that he’d been sent home–or rather, to a friend’s–with a painkiller he didn’t really want ’cuz he’d really no other choices just made him feel even more sorry for him. If he looked back on it, he’d to admit that he was prolly kinda glad that no one’d managed to get in touch with him to let him know what’d happened at the Time. He prolly couldn’t have made it out to California due to his job as a teacher, and even if he _coulda,_ he wasn’t too sure he’d have been able to handle it.

Rob laughed and said that he didn’t blame him in the slightest, whether he’d known right at the very Beginning or not. Those first couple weeks weren’t exactly pretty, what with having to clean and bandage the Healing incision and even the softest of chuckles causing him agony. He said that even when he and Bret were at each others’ throats–like that infamous onstage fight of ’06–he wouldn’t Wish that kinda torture on even him, but especially not with him being diabetic.

“I mean, the scar from my neck surgery’s pretty much faded after twenty Years,” he said, gesturing to the right side of his throat. “But I’m not too sure _this_ gnarly bastard’s _ever_ gonna fade before I die.”

“I can’t deny being kinda curious,” Eilfie told him. “But I get it, if ya don’t wanna show it off.”

“Eh, Aerin’s gotten me to thinking of it kinda like a _Purple Heart,”_ the Silver Fox admitted, unbuttoning the bottom half of his shirt. “She told me to think of it like a Medal of Honor awarded after a well-fought battle to survive, rather than something disfiguring.”

“’Cuz that’s what it _is,_ if ya ask me,” Aerin laughed as he shoved his left hand down his britchesta make sure he didn’t flash anyone.

“Hey, if it keeps ya from being ashamed of something ya can’t help,” Kegan chuckled as he moved so everyone’d a clear view.

“They said they tried to keep it as small as possible, but I ain’t too sure about that,” Rob said, holding his shirt open after rolling his waistband down slightly.

“Yikes, that _is_ pretty Dark,” Kelly winced as they took in the Dark line across his lower belly.

“That’s why I said I’m not too sure it’ll _ever_ fade,” he said. “And if it _does,_ I’ll prolly be in my eighties by then.”

“Whether it ever fades or not, I can definitely see why this whole mess’d make ya nix touring for a while,” the youngest woman said as he pulled his waistband back up before pulling his hand back outta his britches. “No doubt there’s been other things that’d complicate a tour that stem from it.”

“Mostly how I’ve had to Change my diet,” Rob admitted. “Pretty much totally geared toward _preventing_ constipation, and Aerin’s even wanted to make sure it prevents diarrhea, too.”

“’Cuz the excessive straining from either of those things could landja right back in the hospital with a recurrence, love!” his wife said. “And I ain’t going through that aftermath _again,_ especially not while pregnant or taking care of even a single newborn!”

Everybody in the room laughed as the Silver Fox closed his fly and rebuttoned his shirt, none of them able to deny that she’d a point. Prevention was pretty much always the best course of action, no matter _what_ exactly one was trying to prevent at any given Time. If she’d to take care of him like a baby for the first couple weeks of his recovery, they could understand why she wouldn’t wanna do that with even one _literal_ baby, let alone two at once.

It wasn’t long before the couple was finally getting the rest of dinner thrown in the second oven, Aerin working on getting the ingredients for dessert mixed up while he was working on more of the salad from lunch. Since they’d known at least Ash wouldn’t eat the roast loin of venison with Cranberries they’d planned on, dinner was just as eclectic as lunch was to suit pretty much everybody.

But more than anything on this special, if Pagan Day, Rob was just glad to see everybody getting along and embodying the _true_ meaning of _Yule_ and Christmas alike. Those holidays–no matter the religious practices they stemmed from–were supposed to be more about spending Time with one’s family and loved ones than anything else. Chrismas mighta been overly-commercialized and more or less turned into a Day of narcissism, as far as he and his wife were concerned, but that didn’t mean _Yule’d_ done the same thing. Sure, gift-giving was a bit part of even the Pagan Sabbat, but she made sure that everybody kept in mind what the Sabbat was _really_ about and always had been.

Watching their guests, he could definitely say the young woman’s Intent was being realized pretty well, for such a mish-mash group of various religious and Spiritual views. Everybody was enjoying their Time together like Time’d stood still just for today, and they were all welcoming warmth, Light, and Love into their new home. Maybe they were also celebrating the Birth of a different Deity–that of the Sun God, rather than that of Jesus Christ–but that didn’t particularly matter. At the End of the Day, it wasn’t about the actual religious choices, but those other Elements and knowing that tomorrow might never come for each of them.


	44. Forty-Three

“All right, so everybody here who knows me can tell y’all that ain’t a damn thing about me this dreaded disease called _normal.”_

Aerin grinned as all eyes turned to her, watching as she settled on the arm of her husband’s favorite recliner with her acoustic bass in hand. She was quickly followed by her uncles, who’d gone to get their own guitars since they were the ones helping her out with the Insanity that wasta take place both before _and_ after the opening of presents. Only ’cuz one of the songs she’d in mind for tonight was a lil too raunchy–for a Christmas song, that is–did she phrase it quite like that, even in her own head.

“Normal–what’s normal?” Ash asked with a grin.

“A setting on a washing machine, and nobody wantsta be that!” his _fiancé_ crowed, knowing full well where he was going with that.

“My point exactly,” the young woman laughed before turning her attention to Eilfie. “Since you’re the only other Southerner besides _my_ folks, feel free to jump in for some backing. My voice gets pretty high on this one like it does with _Sometime to Believe In,_ or I’d get the rest of Poison to.”

“I’ma assume there’s a reason for that, but all right,” she chuckled.

Turning her attention to the rest of the crowd, Aerin grinned again. “Now, this is more so for the kidsta laugh at than not, but it’s still for the adultsta enjoy, too.”

Feigning Innocence as her stepson blew up one of the party balloons he was holding with the helium tank he’d bought, she knew what was about to happen. She couldn’t help cracking up when he handed it to his dad, managing to keep the neck pinched shut so the helium wouldn’t escape prematurely. It was the look on said husband’s face till he figured out why he was being handed such a thing that made her just about die laughing, but he was a pretty smart cookie.

“Dear Lord and Lady, above _and_ below!” Rob laughed. “I was wondering how on Earth we were gonna manage this!”

“Now ya know, love,” the young woman gasped between laughter.

“I’ma be high as a damn kite–not to mention talking funny for a while–after this,” he chuckled. “I haven’t done this since Zach was a kid.”

Said young man took a breath from the balloon he’d just blown up for himself, Zoe giggling madly as she held her own. “What–made yourself sound like this?” he asked, his voice far more high-pitched than normal from the helium he’d inhaled.

“Yeah, that!” the Silver Fox laughed.

“Boy, don’t be wasting the helium unless you’re quick enough to get a refill mid-song!” Aerin playfully admonished him as everybody else cracked up. “You’re gonna need it.”

“All right, all right,” Zach chuckled, his voice slowly Returning to normal with just those four words.

Everybody who didn’t already know what they were up to–which was pretty much everyone besides herself, Rob, his kids, and her uncles–were all curious as to what they were gonna do. The fact that whatever it was required the use of helium and apparently tied in to her _not_ being normal meant it was gonna be good, no matter what it was.

 _“Hey, guys_ – _what’s the problem?”_ the young woman asked, a devious grin on her face as the trio with the balloons took a hit off them.

 _“The Weather,”_ they chorused, all three of their voices much higher than normal.

Not even Jr. and Gary Lynn could bite back a chuckle as they waited, which made her hard-pressed not to join everyone else’s laughter.

 _“Whaddaya mean? It’s warm and beautiful outside…”_ she said as she bit back that laughter.

Zach, who was the one imitating Alvin for this, was the one to respond. “Exactly– _no Snow, no_ Santa, _which means I’ve been good_ all Year _for_ nothing!”

His sister couldn’t help the grin on her face, despite the depressed tone to her squeaky voice. _“This is gonna be a_ miserable _Christmas…”_

 _“Well, maybe not, fellas…”_ Aerin said, still biting back her own laughter.

She, both uncles, and even Rikki–who’d actually figured out the drum rhythm to this song back home–almost immediately dove into the intro of the song once she said that. Even Rob seemed surprised when he attacked the kit he’d dragged up from the basement after dinner, but he didn’t let that break his concentration. Gods only knew sucking in all this helium till the End of the song was gonna do that enough, if he reacted to it the same way he did as a younger man.

 _“Well, I’ve been sorta worried…about Santa Claus this Year…”_ his wife sang as she picked out the thumping bass riff, her voice almost as high as those huffing helium when they actually did it.

“You’re _worried!? My_ Life’s _riding on this delivery!”_ Zach said after another quick hit.

 _“…’cause we live a-way down South, and it didn’t Snow down here!”_ she continued, seemingly ignoring his interruption.

By this point, poor Vallon, Jude, and Lucy were in stitches, and they’d no idea just how much funnier it was gonna get.

 _“But I’m tellin’ you not to worry, ’cuz I just got the word_ – _everybody listen closely, and I’ll tell you…what I heard…”_

 _“What!?”_ Even Rob and Zoe joined the young man this Time after quick hits of their own.

“Oh, dear God–my ribs!” Bret cackled, doubling over where he sat on the couch.

“I second that!” CC agreed, leaning over on his back.

 _“Santa’s comin’ in a pickup…instead of his trusty sleigh_ – _he’ll have a truck instead of a Reindeer…to carry him on his way… ’Cause the weatherman had some problems_ – _he couldn’t get Snow, ya see… Santa’s gonna come in a pickup truck when he visits you and me…”_

Eilfie’d figured out what song they were doing just from the opening commentary, but she was just as hard-pressed to bite back laughter as the performers. This particular song could only be called a Southern classic when it came to _off-the-wall_ Christmas songs, and it was no Wonder why Aerin’d wanted to do this one. It was certainly lively enough to make just about anyone have a good Time, even if they didn’t normally like country Music. But the fact that the lyrics–particularly the spoken parts done by Alvin and the Chipmunks–were so hilarious woulda made just about anybody have a good Time, no matter what style the actual Music was set to.

 _“Oh, boy, this is_ great– _this means we can get our presents!”_ Zach cheered after another hit off his balloon. _“Uh, what’re_ you _asking for, Aerin?”_

 _“Well, ya know_ – _Peace on Earth, and good Will toward men…”_ Aerin answered, her nonchalant demeanor and straight face only adding to the hilarity.

“Excellent– _more room in the pickup for_ my _stuff!”_ the young man cheered.

 _“Alvin, don’tcha think ya_ might _be missing the_ point _of Christmas?”_ she asked, her expression turning bemused as she kept playing.

 _“Nope!”_ her stepson answered, grinning.

Even Rob couldn’t help a soft chuckle that was drowned out by the Music in the short pause between that bit of conversation and the Beginning of the next verse. He just hoped he could manage to pull this part off without passing out, and he hoped the same was true for his kids. After all, it’d been decades since he’d huffed helium like this, and he’d damn well never tried to sing while he was doing it. No doubt that’d cause a bit of a struggle for him, and being a former smoker as much as his young wife was would no doubt complicate his attempt, but he was damn well gonna try.

 _“Santa can’t bring his Reindeer_ – _he’ll leave ’em far away…”_ they all sang in unison after he and his kids took more hits off their balloons.

Even Jr., Gary Lynn, and Eilfie joined in for this part, much to the amusement of everyone else.

 _“Will they be all right?”_ Zoe asked, feigning nervousness so she could pull off the line.

 _“They’ll be_ fine…” the Silver Fox dead-panned, sounding even funnier than normal due to the helium.

“Yeah!” Lucy giggled. “They’ll be fine with the Elves at the North Pole, silly!”

 _“But don’t you worry ’bout him_ – _he’s gonna be here Christmas Day!”_ they all but cheered, father and children practically high on their helium already. _“He’s got a big, red pickup, with four-wheel drive and all_ – _and there’s gonna be a merry Christmas, merry Christmas…for all!”_

 _“Yeah!”_ Rob and his kids chorused, somehow managing to take big enough hitsta get them through the chorus again in the short period of Time they’d available to them.

By this point, even poor Rikki was having trouble fighting his laughter so he could stay on his stool and keep drumming, rather than falling off in a fit of laughter. He’d never heard this song before Aerin’d gotten him to listen to it to see if he could figure out the rhythm so they’d actually have it. Part of him Wished he’d heard it Years ago, if only so he could play it at his own Christmas celebrationsta entertain his kids. Course, that didn’t mean he couldn’t start a new Tradition this Year once they got back out West, now that he thought about it.

 _“Now, Aerin, about this pickup_ – _we’re talkin’_ really _huge, right? Not one of those mini-cabs…”_ Zach said after they’d rounded out the chorus.

 _“Well, I’m not sure, Alvin,”_ the young woman answered, her face screwing up in feigned confusion. _“Why_ – _what’re ya askin’ for?”_

 _“A plane,”_ he answered matter-of-factly, even though he grinned.

 _“Ya mean one of those remote things?”_ Aerin asked.

“No, _a 747! I don’t think a pickup’s gonna cut it, Aerin,”_ the young man said seriously. _“Look, as long as he’s Changing his means of transportation, why doesn’t he drive a_ – _a_ – _a train?”_

 _“A_ train!?” she asked, rearing back like she was actually surprised as she continued playing.

 _“A train wouldn’t be_ practical, _Alvin_ – _it needs_ tracks, _so it could only stop in certain areas,”_ Rob dead-panned, despite his own grin.

 _“Guys, I gotta tell ya, man_ – _you’re really missin’ the_ point _here,”_ Aerin said, trying to be an even bigger voice of reason than the Chipmunk her husband was currently impersonating.

 _“Wait, wait_ – _I know! What about a_ – _a_ – _a blimp!?”_ Zoe asked, straightening as if she’d a sudden stroke of genius like Theodore was supposed to’ve.

 _“Brilliant, Theodore!”_ her brother cried. _“Aerin, call Santa_ – _he’ll listen to_ you, _especially since you don’t want anything!”_

 _“I’m not callin’ Santa, Alvin,”_ Aerin said, looking incredulous at the very suggestion.

 _“Tell him to dump the pickup_ – _we need something_ much _bigger,”_ he continued as if ignoring her.

 _“No,_ you _need to think much_ smaller,” the young woman insisted.

 _“Easy for_ you _to say_ – _you’re not a kid anymore,”_ her stepson told her, clearly fighting laughter.

 _“Even as a kid, I never asked for a 747!”_ she said.

 _“That’s ’cuz they didn’t_ have ’em _when you were a kid,”_ her stepdaughter all but giggled.

 _“Hey, I’m not_ that _old!”_ Aerin retorted. The hilarity of _that_ particular statement wasn’t lost on anyone, considering that she really _wasn’t_ that old.

 _“Simon, get Santa on the phone,”_ Zach said, looking up at his dad in mock seriousness. _“Tell him Aerin Dall, the famous country singer, wantsta talk to him!”_

 _“Simon, put that phone down,”_ the young woman snapped, the grin that finally broke free belying any malice that mighta been in her voice.

 _“Hello, Santa?”_ Rob asked, his hand held up next to his head in the _Call me_ gesture.

 _“Simon, I said put that phone down!”_ she said, somehow using her elbow to bump his hand away from his head. _“Simon, put that phone down…”_

As the performers muted their strings, Rikki’s last beat dying away moments later, just about everybody in the living room was struggling to pick themselves up off the floor. They weren’t quite sure what was more hilarious–the Thought of Santa making his Christmas rounds in a bright red pickup, or the conversation that Ended the song–as they somehow managed to start heading off for potty breaks.

Setting her bass on its stand for a few minutes, Aerin couldn’t help finally cracking up, which set off the poor drummer and made him quite literally fall off his stool. Even her aunt and uncles couldn’t help laughing, and they’d all heard this song several Times ever since it came out back in 1994. However, that trio wasn’t laughing quite as hard as the others–especially the youngest kids–as they headed off to take their turns in the bathroom. But what nobody except the young woman, her uncles, and the currently-incapacitated drummer knew was that it was just gonna get even more hilarious.

The unfortunate part was that the next song she Intended to do was gonna require waiting till after present-opening and the kids were in bed. Even if she _didn’t_ go through with a bit of a costume change while she’d the nerve, her antics were gonna be going a lil too far in front of minors. Since she didn’t feel like getting herself in trouble, it was best to just wait since the kids’d no doubt start getting tired in the next hour or two. In fact, she got the feeling the longest she’d have to wait was three hours, and that was only for Vallon to finally pass out.

It was about two and a-half hours after they’d finished the first crazy Christmas carol–if it could be called that–which was geared more toward the kids than not that said kids were finally asleep. They were all piled into the guest bed downstairs in the basement, where they wouldn’t be disturbed by any adults who decided to stay up late. However, it wasn’t till she was sure her husband was thoroughly distracted by cleaning up the mess left by unwrapping presents that Aerin grabbed her female best friend.

Dragging her into Zoe’s room since that was where she’d hidden what she’d need–and it was the least likely place Rob’d come searching for her–she closed and locked the door behind them. Naturally, Aidan cocked a brow at her, wondering just what she was up to since she’d a devious twinkle in her eyes all afternoon and Eve. After all, it was pretty obvious she’d planned today and tonight down to the very letter, and she highly doubted even being pregnant and horny could get her to beg a lesbian moment of her. Luckily, even though she was most definitely horny, it wasn’t a lesbian moment the young woman Intended to beg of her. More like it was her help getting changed into something that’d make a certain someone else horny right along with her.

“Oh, really?” she chuckled, letting her arms drop from where they’d been crossed under her swollen breasts.

“Gotta keep with the theme of the Season,” Aerin snickered as she unzipped the garment bag she’d hung on her stepdaughter’s closet door.

 _“Oooh,”_ the ginger woman breathed once she clapped eyes on its contents. “So naughty, Mrs. Claus.”

“That’s the whole point,” she told her with a grin. “Considering I fully Intend to give a certain Santa Claus a lap-dance tonight…”

“Or rather, as much of one as your hips’ll _letcha_ give him,” Aidan laughed.

“Won’t find out till ya help me get in this contraption,” the young woman said. “Just don’t lace it as tight as you’d normally lace me up.”

“Can’t be compressing babies, now can we?” she asked with a chuckle.

“Can’t be compressing _Mama,_ either,” Aerin answered as she stripped.

It didn’t take long for the ginger to get her friend into her naughty Mrs. Claus costume, which was no doubt bought from whatever sex shop she’d managed to sneak off to in Knoxville. She knew without even having to ask this’d prolly been one of her recent errands where she’d snuck out without Rob knowing she was even leaving, or when she’d been grocery shopping or something. No doubt she’d have wanted to keep him in the Dark till tonight so she could shock him, whether her mischief included a lap-dance or not.

By the Time Aidan finished up and said she’d head out to make sure he was still distracted, the Silver Fox was starting to look for his wife. Whether they’d a romp that Night or not, he was on the verge of wanting to go to bed since they hadn’t been able to manage the nap he’d gotten accustomed to taking. If they managed to find the Energy for a romp, he’d count it as icing on the cake, but he wasn’t actively seeking one out tonight.

However, he was a bit startled when the ginger gently shoved him down into an armless chair before stealing his recliner, which earned her a bit of a miffed look. Pretty much everybody who knew him knew better than to take his chair, whether they were pregnant or not, which was why it was a bit of a surprise. The oh, so innocent look that she shot him made him realize that something was up, though, ’cuz if there was one thing she and his wife both _weren’t,_ it was innocent. But before he could ask her what on Earth was going on, Rob was a bit startled by the living room Lights suddenly dimming so they were almost completely off.

 _“The Snow is fallin’_ – _it’s Christmas Eve… Presents’re wrapped…under the Tree_ – _is there one…for…me?”_

Jr. strumming his guitar as something white and poofy fell over his head outta nowhere made him realize that his wife’d something planned more so than suddenly hearing her start singing when he couldn’t see her. Still, he glanced around the living room, a suspicious look on his face as he reached up to pull what he realized was fake Snow off his head and fling it onto the floor.

Not even a second later, the Lights came back up so that he could see clearly, and the Silver Fox’s wasn’t the only jaw that dropped. It wasn’t even that Gary Lynn joined his brother in sawing out a guitar riff, Ash surprisingly joining with the bass riff as much as Rikki joined on drums again. Seeing Aerin step outta the back hall that led to his kids’ rooms in what could only be called a naughty Mrs. Claus outfit, complete with black, thigh-high leather boots sporting three-inch heels was what was so surprising. And it wasn’t ’cuz it left very lil to the Imagination, either–it was simply ’cuz she almost never wore anything like this, especially if it’d a skirt.

 _“Uhhhh…”_ He wasn’t quite sure what to make of this as he watched her with wide eyes.

 _“I only want_ you _for Christmas, baby_ – _I don’t need nothin’ else… I only want_ you _for Christmas, baby_ – _tie a ribbon around yourself… Oh, tie a ribbon around yourself!”_ Aerin couldn’t help a downright mischievous grin as she started dancing around the chair he’d been pushed into, her hips swinging teasingly.

The Silver Fox actually started to drool a bit, grumbling when she danced just outta his reach as he reached out to grab her.

 _“I ain’t gonna write no letter…to send North to the Pole_ – _’cuz what I’m a-wantin’ this Year…Saint Nick don’t_ need _to know!”_ Her voice held a bit of a pleading note on that last word, even though her grin never disappeared as she plopped her Leopard-print Santa hat on his head so it momentarily covered his eyes.

“Woman, you’re incorrigible,” Rob chuckled, reaching up to pluck it off so he could see again.

The young woman was clearly fighting laughter as she repeated the chorus, which Ash joined her on for a backing line.

He couldn’t help how he reacted as he watched her lively, but sultry dance around the living room, every attempt to reach out and grab her a failure since she made sure to stay just outta his reach. Even her dancing behind his chair didn’t stop him, ’cuz he just tilted his head back so he could see her–even though it made her appear upside-down–and try to reach behind him.

 _“So put on your Christmas stockin’s_ – _I’ll find that Mistletoe… Let’s get into the holiday Spirit_ – _honey, ho ho ho… Ho ho ho!”_ Aerin sang after they’d gotten through the solo, which felt kinda like it was missing something to him and the others, who were also watching and listening.

 _“Ho ho ho,_ indeed…” the Silver Fox drawled, completely uncaring of his friends, their relatives, and Eilfie watching–till she did something totally unexpected.

 _“I only want_ you _for Christmas, baby_ – _I don’t need nothin’ else… I only want_ you _for Christmas, baby_ – _tie a ribbon around yourself… Oh, tie a ribbon around yourself!”_ she sang as she dropped so she was straddling his lap.

Rob’s eyes widened as she grabbed his shoulders, her hips undulating against him in as much of a lap-dance as she could possibly manage as she repeated the chorus again.

 _“Whoooo-ooooh!”_ The young woman didn’t bother trying not to grin as she did the spoken part of the outro. _“Oh, I had a bicycle_ – _I had a train, too… Whoa-ohhhh, I only want_ you…”

At that point, there was no fighting the boner he’d started to pop, and he couldn’t help a groan that was equal parts pleasure and discomfort. He was sitting at a weird angle that didn’t leave him much room to grow down the leg of his jeans, which the lil minx in his lap no doubt knew without a doubt. Judging by her grin as she ground down against him again, though, that was exactly the reaction she was trying to get outta him when she’d started this Insanity. That just made him smirk as an idea came to mind, his hands gently grabbing the backs of her thighs as he managed to rise.

“I’d suggest staying the hell away from the master suite tonight,” the Silver Fox growled. “And maybe sleeping with ear plugs in, if you’re spending the Night.”

“I think that was pretty much a given, dude!” Rikki laughed from his kit, the Music having died away.

“Zoe, just toss my clothes in the laundry!” Aerin called over his shoulder as he carried her off.

 _“Uhhhh…”_ Said stepdaughter’s eyes widened as her dad fumbled for his bedroom doorknob mere seconds later.

“She used _your_ room to change since she knew that’d be the last place he’d look for her,” the ginger woman explained with a chuckle. “They’re folded on your desk chair, but she’s clearly not gonna need ’em anymore tonight.”

“Not if Dad’s _his_ way about it,” Zach laughed. “And I’m pretty sure he’s riled up enough now that he’s not even thinking about sleep anymore.”

“Nope, and he won’t be for a while, either,” the younger bassist chuckled. “Not with _that_ dirty lil dance she was doing.”

“That was the point, hon,” Aidan laughed.

“Wait, ya _knew_ what she was up to?” he asked.

“Not till she got me to help her change so she could be laced up without lacing her corset _too_ tight,” the ginger woman answered. “Not a smart idea to do that with precious cargo on board, after all.”

Nobody could really deny that, even as they heard a loud _thump!_ from the master suite that almost sounded like the couple’d fallen and hurt themselves. If not for the moan loud enough to be heard in the living room, they’d have prolly been tempted to go check on them for that very reason. But once that moan was followed by several more and even a couple more thumps, they decided to just leave them to their fun. Interrupting them once they got into their groove might just get a knife thrown at them or something, and most knew that.

Aidan and Ash saw out those who were leaving, now that the festivities were over till Christmas rolled around in a few Days, if they were staying that long. Rob’s poor brother, niece, and nephew were shown down to the basement before they left, but that only muffled the moans and cries they heard. Nobody could do anything about any thumps and bangs, no doubt from the horny man–or his woman–shoving the other against a wall or something. But at least they’d a lil bit of a buffer downstairs, where the rest of Poison were essentially camping out in the secondary living room.

Overall, nobody could say that it wasn’t a helluva celebration in all the best ways, even if the Night’d Ended on an unexpected note for some. Granted, the festivities were no doubt to continue for the next few Days, considering how close together _Yule_ and Christmas were. Heading out to the younger bassist’s car so they could leave after locking up for them, they just hoped that the others could handle whatever they wound up hearing for what’d undoubtedly be half the remainder of the Night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I'm well aware that it's the wrong Time of Year in Reality, but we're in the middle of December in the story... Then again, on second Thought, these songs're funny _any_ Time of Year...
> 
> That being said, here's linksta the songs in question, _Santa's Gonna Come in a Pickup Truck_ and _I Only Want You for Christmas._ I consider both to be by the country artist Alan Jackson, but some might disagree on the first song and say it's by Alvin and the Chipmunks. Either way, both're featured in it, while the latter's strictly by Alan Jackson since it's from one of his country Christmas albums.  
> ~Firefly
> 
> Link to _Santa's Gonna Come in a Pickup Truck_ –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu2kKTzzWUQ
> 
> Link to _I Only Want You for Christmas_ –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq1ZWzobiwM


	45. Forty-Four

_March, 2022_

By the Time what his wife called the Sabbat of _Ostara_ rolled around roughly three months later, give or take a Day and half an hour, there were definitely gonna be three babies born by Independence Day. Aidan was said to’ve conceived three weeksta a month before her friend, which meant that she really _was_ due between early- and mid-June. One could definitely tell she was pregnant, even though she was carrying her baby girl pretty high, and the glow that _all_ pregnant women seemed to be surrounded by only added to the effect.

On the other hand, Aerin hadn’t lost either of her babies, amazingly enough, so she looked like she was just as pregnant as her friend. Even though she was three weeksta a month behind her, having multiples and a shorter torso made her grow a bit faster. She actually appeared like she was slightly _ahead_ of her friend in the raceta give Birth, even though everybody–even their extended families–knew better than that.

The pregnant pair somehow managed to schedule damn near all of their OB appointments on the same Day, which meant they’d somebody to go with them, should their menfolk be unable to. Zach and Zoe were forever offering to go with the young woman, but she insisted they save their vacation Days, now that they’d essentially gotten back the jobs they’d quit down in Florida. She said they helped her out enough at home, particularly when the weight of her pregnancy made her joints act up, and they shouldn’t waste something so hard to come by on her. Besides, what if the Day came later on down the road that they were _forced_ to take a Day off to help her with the babies ’cuz Rob wasn’t feeling good, but they didn’t _have_ anymore vacation Daysta use?

Another thing these wily women did was that–since their men were usually hard at work on whatever house in _this_ area Ash was flipping at any given Time–they kept saying their babies were being uncooperative brats. Even the Silver Fox wanted to know genders as much as his younger equivalent, although–like his wife–he was more interested in their Health. But it was fun to go home and tell them that the babies just wouldn’t squirm into a position where their shared OB/GYN could tell their genders, even though they’d already known what they were having for about a month now.

“Ya _gotta_ be kidding me,” the younger bassist groaned as they all crowded around the eight-person dining table the Dalls’d managed to get into their dining room.

“Unfortunately, no,” Aidan said, somehow biting back the grin her best friend knew _wanted_ to split her face.

Said young woman was biting back a grin of her own, and she knew her husband could tell.

“There’s _something_ you’re not telling, girls,” Rob dead-panned, pinning a look on his wife. “I dunno _what_ it is, but I _do_ know you’re hiding something.”

“Who, us?” the ginger asked, sounding a lil _too_ innocent.

“Don’t make us tickle it outta y’all,” her _fiancé_ threatened, a grin suddenly splitting his face.

“We’re not responsible for any injuries y’all incur, if y’all’re dumb enough to do that,” Aerin warned him. “Y’all already know _I_ get violent when folks tickle me, and I’m pretty sure pregnancy’d make even _her_ get that way.”

“Um, _yeeeeaaaah,”_ her friend drawled. “Maybe I don’t hate being tickled as much as _you,_ but I still don’t like it.”

“Prolly not the best of ideas, Ash,” the Silver Fox chuckled. “’Cuz even if they _wouldn’t_ get violent, do ya _really_ wanna clean up the mess we’d be left with when we made them piss themselves?”

“Point taken,” Ash laughed. “’Cuz no, I very much _do not_ wanna be cleaning up a puddle.”

“More like a Lake at this point,” the young woman said as she rubbed her belly. “I dunno ’bout _her,_ but these two make me go through so much Water, it ain’t even funny.”

“Here, here,” Aidan agreed with a laugh. “It’s like this one thinks it’s going outta style and they’re never gonna get anymore.”

“Well, I’d much rather y’all be going through Water left and right like that,” Rob told them. “At least we know even the babies’re healthy, which’s what I, personally am more concerned with.”

Even his younger equivalent nodded his agreement, saying that while it’d be niceta know whether he was having a son or daughter, he was more worried about the baby’s Health once he’d swallowed what he was chewing. At the End of the Day, Health was far more important than gender, ’cuz figuring out a game plan on how to raise a baby wouldn’t matter, if said baby didn’t survive. Granted, he’d his reasons for wanting to know so badly, and that made Aerin reach past her husband to squeeze his hand since she wasn’t sure even the ginger knew.

Not even Zach and Zoe could hide their surprise when he admitted that he came from a long line of suicidal men. The most recent in that line since he’d decided to get help rather than going down the same Path was his own father–or maybe more aptly, his grandfather. Generationally speaking, his father’d be the most recent, but in terms of _when_ they’d done themselves in, that _title_ fell on his grandfather.

Ash said he didn’t particularly care whether he’d a son or daughter, ’cuz he really didn’t–he just wanted to know well in advance so he could start figuring out how to help any son take the same Path _he’d_ taken, not the one other male relatives of his’d taken. The earlier he could start planning for any such thing, the better off he thought they’d be when it came to raising a baby. If need be, he could go so far as to start looking into kiddie head-shrinkers long before they were needed, should such a need ever arise in the first place. He knew that even a daughter could End up needing such mental help, but the chances were higher for a son to need it, considering his family history.

Biting her lip as she thought about it, Aidan pondered going ahead and telling him, rather than keeping the gender Secret any longer. It was pretty clear to even the Silver Fox that he was genuinely worried, to the point that it was a Wonder he got any sleep at Night. Even though there’d be no going back, maybe telling him’d be better, if only so he’d get a good Night’s sleep instead of stressing himself into an unnecessarily early grave like he seemed to be doing.

“Don’t look at me,” Aerin giggled. “Not my baby, not my choice.”

“Wait, what?” The younger bassist shot a confused look between his best friend and _fiancé_.

His older equivalent looked equally confused before letting out a laugh as it Dawned on him. “Y’all already know what _they’re_ having, don’tcha?”

“Well, I was _gonna_ keep messing with Ash right up till I popped,” the ginger chuckled. “But I’d rather him live to even _see_ that versus worry himself into an early grave and leave me a single mommy.”

Ash perked up, shooting her quite the expectant look from across the table.

“Relax, hon–I’m pretty sure we’re not gonna have to worry about this lil girl going down that Dark Path,” she told him, grinning as she rubbed her belly.

It took a moment for him to process what she’d said, then he let out an excited cheer. “Hot _day-um_ –a literal Purdy Princess!”

Not even Zach and Zoe could bite back a laugh as he actually got up so he could kneel down next to her chair and rub her belly.

“May ya _not_ be as devious as your mama,” the younger bassist chuckled.

“Oh, yeah, right,” Aidan laughed, their daughter stirring from the jarring motion. “Like _that’s_ gonna happen when you’re _just_ as devious, maybe more so!”

He merely shot her one of his infamously devious grins, which made her pull him upright enough to give him a kiss. She couldn’t lean down to him quite as much anymore, what with having a Melon taking up residence in her gut, so it was understandable. Even still, the moment was no less beautiful and Romantic than it’d be, if she _coulda_ leaned down to him more, which made the others let out a collective _awww_. That earned them a middle finger from both, who didn’t so much as break for Air as they flipped them off, and set off yet another round of laughter.

Not quite a month after the second Spring Sabbat and first of the two Spirit Nights– _Beltane,_ Aerin called it–the Dalls’d called it an early Night. The Morn-slash-Sympathy sickness’d long since worn off, although her husband still experienced some of her cravings and mood swings, but they both got tired quicker and easier. It seemed that happened to her more so than him, but that was understandable since she was living for three and carrying around so much extra weight.

Due to the Time of Night, neither were expecting the young woman’s phone to ring where she’d laid it on its charging pad, which lived on her nightstand. Since she wasn’t quite as deaf–which was something Rob wouldn’t admit to, if he’d a hot cattle prod against his ass–she was the one to start awake first. Granted, he was quick to follow when he felt her trying to squirm outta his grip, his sleepy brain thinking she needed a potty break till he registered soft Music. They both needed pretty much total Silenceta be able to sleep, so he knew she hadn’t left any kinda Music playing when they’d gone to bed.

It took her a few moments of sleepy blinking before the young woman registered that Aidan’s contact was displayed on her screen. By the Time that part registered, the call’d gone to voice mail, which she doubted her friend would leave right now. Not even giving her a chanceta try again, she immediately tapped the lil green phone on her screen and put her phone on speaker once she heard it start ringing.

“Why we calling folks like it’s high Noon in the Alaskan Winter?” she asked, clearly sounding more asleep than not.

 _“’Cuz I need some help over here,”_ the ginger chuckled, a wince quickly following.

“With?” Aerin prompted, her sleepy brain not wanting to play games and connect any dots right now.

 _“Smacking some Calm back into Ash,”_ she ground out. _“Damn water broke, and now he’s damn near completely lost his shit.”_

“Sounds like a lil more than just some _prenatal panic,”_ Rob chuckled as he sat up.

 _“No shit, man,”_ Aidan said, sighing in relief before letting out another chuckle. _“I’d try driving myself to the hospital, but I don’t wanna take any chances_ – _and besides,_ somebody _needsta smack his head back on straight.”_

“Give us a few minutesta get some clothes on,” the young woman laughed. “And if I wind up right there in the delivery room with ya as anything _but_ a support system, it’s _your_ hand I’ma break alongside Rob’s.”

 _“Lost your mucus plug already?”_ she asked, her voice taking on a concerned note.

“Unfortunately,” Aerin answered. “Which means I’ma prolly go pretty quick, too.”

 _“Well, here’s hoping it_ doesn’t _happen tonight,”_ the ginger said. _“Although you’ve to admit, it’d be pretty cool for our kidsta all share a birthday.”_

“That’s assuming they were _all_ born on the same Day!” she laughed.

Unable to help joining her laughter, Aidan said she’d make sure the front door was unlocked, but to watch their step as they came in. It felt to her like her baby girl’d dropped pretty low, which meant she was still leaking amniotic fluid since it hadn’t come out in a gush. She’d tried to pad her pantiesta help soak up the mess, but she still didn’t want them slipping on any trail that accidentally got left on her trip outta and back to the master suite.

After Ending the call, Rob got up to grab enough clothesta make himself and his wife publicly decent, but not so much that they’d be miserable. Even though it was roughly Midnight, it’d gotten up into the eighties that Day, which was pretty normal for even the Knoxville area this Time of Year. Despite having cooled off to somewhere in the upper-sixties, he knew she’d get miserable quicker since she overheated due to her pregnancy.

Once they were dressed, he snatched up their own hospital bags so they’d already have them, just in case she wound up going into labor, too. Even though they both knew her due date was still technically a month away and she _didn’t_ wanna deliver in a hospital, Aerin wasn’t stupid. If she wound up going into labor–whether as a sympathetic responseta her friend being in labor or simply ’cuz her Timer’d run out, so to speak–she’d go ahead and deliver in a hospital. She’d just be an ornery bitch the whole Time, especially till she managed to get an epidural since her preferred method wouldn’t be available to her.

 _“Oooh,_ fuck,” said young woman whimpered, pausing in trying to haul herself into her passenger’s seat.

“What is it?” Rob asked, slamming the back door on the driver’s side shut after tossing their bags into the back seat.

“Just go get a towel, love,” she answered, which made him open the driver’s door so he could actually see her.

“Gods, _your_ water just broke, too?” the Silver Fox asked from across the truck.

“Well, my bladder doesn’t normally _gush,”_ Aerin snapped, her face twisting in obvious pain as a contraction started.

“All right, all right.” He threw his hands up in surrender as he turned to head back to the front door.

The young woman didn’t have to be told not to move aside from the slight dancing she was doing as she shifted from foot-to-foot.

“Lemme know when it ebbs, sweetheart,” Rob said as he Returned with the requested towel. “I’m not even trying to move ya till then.”

“Ya better fuckin’ not, or I’m ripping your nuts off and stapling ’em to the side of your head,” she quite literally growled.

“I’d like to think that–even vague by now–the memories of the last two Times’re still there,” the Silver Fox chuckled.

Only after Aerin’d finally let out a relieved sigh and loosened her grip on the door’s handle did he dare trying to get her to take a couple steps back. With her outta the way, he was able to pad her seat with three thickly-folded towelsta soak up anything else that trickled outta her. He knew damn good and well that just ’cuz there’d been a gush, according to her, didn’t necessarily mean she wasn’t still leaking amniotic fluid. Not only that, but the sac around only one of the babies mighta broken while the other was still intact and full of fluid.

After getting his wife boosted up into the truck, Rob was able to breathe at least a mild sigh of relief as he rounded the hood to climb behind the wheel. It was gonna be a long Night for him and Ash both, if only ’cuz things were only gonna get crazier from here before they started settling down. He knew for a fact–even though he’d never actually been in labor–that the women were gonna be in an increasing amount of pain as Time passed. The only thing that’d truly stop the pain wasta give Birth–twice in his own wife’s case–although an epidural’d certainly help before then.

Pulling up outside their friends’ house, the young woman just waved him on toward the front door, another contraction deciding to hit at that moment. She told him to just smack his younger equivalent, if he wound up needing to–and to tell him to get his ass on out here, or she’d smack him even harder. Rob laughed as he made to do just that, knowing his lil spit-Fire of a wife got even more ornery than normal when she was in pain, and that she meant every word she said, in the middle of a contraction or no.


	46. Forty-Five

“Children, if y’all don’t shut up and behave back there, I’ma do worse than my _own_ woman’s threat of ripping some nuts off and stapling them to the side of their owner’s head!”

Even Aerin was a bit surprised at how her husband practically barked at the mildly-bickering couple in the back seat of her truck, which made her giggle softly. A quick stop in Lenoir City’d left them with their best friends, and what they’d been told over the phone was definitely true. While Aidan was obviously in pain, her contractions coming prolly every fifteen minutes or so, her _fiancé’d_ all but worked himself into a panic attack. In fact, his older equivalent’d to help the ginger out to the truck before going back in to grab the couple’s bags and quite literally slap some sense into him so he could drag _him_ out to the truck, too.

Now they were all of half a mile from UT Medical Center, which was where they’d been told to go once Rob managed to get in touch with the womens’ OB/GYN. They were just about to hit the Bridge that crossed over the Tennessee River, which essentially separated the majority of Knoxville from South Knoxville and a couple other outlying Towns. Said woman’d told him that there was an exit ramp off Alcoa Highway that’d take them around a loop, but lead them into the back side of the hospital where the Rheumatology and Nephrology Centers were. If he followed the signs up toward Parking Deck H, it’d pretty much lead him to the ER, which was where she said she’d meet them.

Glancing back down from the rearview mirror, the Silver Fox could honestly say that Ash’s near-panic attack was driving him crazier and stressing him out more than having _two_ laboring women in the truck with him. Sure, he got that being faced with even a single laboring woman was enough to make most guys worry till they got them to a hospital. But to be quite honest, he’d been almost as Calm when rushing his ex-wife to the hospital to deliver Zach than his younger equivalent was now.

“You’ve no idea–” he started to tell him.

“Don’t _even_ try to pull that card on me, Ashley,” Rob warned him without even glancing up into the rearview mirror again. “’Cuz if _ya don’t even know how it feelsta be rushing your woman to the hospital to deliver your first child_ or anything even remotely similar was about to come outta your mouth, ya forget that I’ve two _grown_ kids already.”

“If anyone’s gonna know how you’re feeling, it’s _him,”_ Aidan said sensibly before letting out another groan.

“Besides, after last September, I’m not exactly liking the Thought of being in a hospital again for _anything,”_ he grumbled. “But I’d rather that than get my nuts ripped off by _either_ of the women in this truck right now.”

His own wife let out a whimper that quickly turned into one of those guttural groans, another contraction starting for her just as her friend’s Ended. “And as much as _I_ hate hospitalsta Begin with, I wanna be here about as much as _he_ does!”

“So I’d sit back, shut the fuck up, and take a few deep breaths,” the Silver Fox growled, finally finding the exit ramp the OB/GYN’d mentioned. “’Cuz otherwise, _I’ma_ have ya barred from both their delivery rooms just so _I_ can relax a bit.”

Knowing better than to argue with any of them, Ash intelligently clamped his mouth shut as his older equivalent slowed to make the curve in the ramp without sending them into a roll-over. On the other side of the Bridge that spanned Alcoa Highway, he slowed even more for anyone coming up the ramp from what’d been oncoming traffic before he’d taken that ramp. He didn’t particularly fancy experiencing the irony of getting into a wreck on hospital grounds just ’cuz some dumbass cut him off before he could ever hit the intersection of a lil side street that led down to various hospital parking lots and hell-only-knew what else further down.

Navigating up to the roundabout practically within spitting distance of the parking deck that’d been specified wasn’t that hard, and Rob couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief. He just hoped the womens’ OB/GYN was actually waiting outside the ED like she said she’d be, and that if she wasn’t, tracking her down wouldn’t take that long.

Thankfully, Aerin and Aidan recognized their shared doctor before he even started to loop around the traffic Circle that led to the ED doors. She was waiting with a pair of nursesta help get the women outta the truck and settled in the wheelchairs that’d been brought with them. Being the one more with it, Rob climbed out to help wrangle his wife out, her friend lapsing into another contraction and threatening to rip heads off just as he took the truck outta gear. Well, that was if anyone was dumb enough to try moving her till _after_ her contraction ebbed, which the doctor assured them wouldn’t happen. She chuckled as she said that she’d been in this business for long enough to know better than to even try such a thing.

Aerin was quickly wheeled into the building, another contraction starting for her just as the first nurse got her to the ED doors. She was pretty quick to scream over her shoulder that if he got her truck towed or wasn’t up at L&D relatively quickly, the staff better hope they kept any scalpels away from her. Naturally, the OB/GYN was surprised by her thinly-veiled threat, but he just laughed and said he’d explain it after he’d moved her truck, lest it actually get towed.

“L&D’s on the third floor of the tallest building,” said OB/GYN–Dr. Park–told him. “Just ask one of the ER nursesta pointcha toward the elevators. If ya don’t see a coffee shop in the main lobby straight across from ’em, you’ll know you’re at the wrong elevator bank.”

“Works for me,” Rob said, nodding. “I’ma keep this one with me for a few minutes so that if I need to smack him again, I can.”

“Just bring him to me in one piece unless you’ve to actually knock his head off,” the ginger chuckled before her _fiancé_ could protest, now settled in her own wheelchair. “Then just bring him up in two pieces so I can braid his hair to hang his head from while I’m in labor.”

“Will do, Aidan,” he laughed. “Just keep _Aerin’s_ head on straight for me till I get us up there.”

“Yea, yea, Cap’n!” Aidan mock-saluted him as she was wheeled off, the doctor following behind with both womens’ bags for him.

Turning to climb back into the truck so he could move it, the Silver Fox wore a bemused look. “Get the fuck on in here before I just grab one of the chains from the trunk and drag ya behind it.”

Ash was quick to hop into the passenger’s seat, although _not_ without removing the wet towels.

“Now listen, and listen good,” Rob said, firing up the truck once they were both in it with their doors closed. “As one man to another–particularly one who’s been through this a couple Times already–ya _gotta_ Calm down, kid.”

“But what if–” his younger equivalent started.

He was quick to cut him off with a warning Sound he’d used with his kids Years ago when they were doing something they shouldn’t. “Don’t even go there, son–Thoughts’re Energy just as much as words.”

Ash was quick to snap his mouth shut, his eyes wide and nearly every muscle tense with worry.

“If you’ve been around Aerin as long as y’all say, ya oughta know by now that some things’re meant to happen, whether we want them to or not,” the Silver Fox said. “But they’re in the best place for something to go wrong–at least then, they’re already surrounded by medical professionals who can _try_ to prevent worse.”

“I–yeah, I guess that’s true,” he admitted reluctantly.

“So, quit thinking about the _what-ifs_ before ya make something go wrong with all the negative Energy you’re pouring out,” Rob told him. “That’s anything from one or both of their labors stalling to winding up needing a C-section ’cuz a baby goes into distress or something.”

The younger bassist was quick to nod as he found an open spot in the parking deck that’d been more or less right behind them while they were off-loading their women. Part of him still wanted to snap and scream at him, but at the same Time, there was another part that was listening to the voice of reason he was being. No doubt he’d been just as scared and anxious as the Birth of his first child quite literally loomed on the horizon thirty-one Years ago, even if he hadn’t shown it nearly as much.

By the Time they managed to make it up to labor and delivery–which was clean across the hospital’s campus–with their own bags, the Silver Fox was grumbling under his breath. When he took Ash back home so they could do shit like shower and get car seats strapped into their respective vehicles, he definitely _wasn’t_ parking in Parking Deck H again. It turned out that there was another parking deck on the back side of the building where the Rheumatology and Nephrology departments were that was far closer. Had he known that, he wouldn’t have let Dr. Park tell him to meet her at the ED, which was easily double the distance–maybe further, what with all the hallways and turns–from where they needed to go.

However, it turned out that Aerin was being stubborn in the lil OB triage area, which was sorta a special ED for labor and delivery, alone. She always got high-strung when medical facilities were involved, and even with her best friend at her side, she refused to let the staff move her till the menfolk caught up with them. Then again, a woman wanting her partner and the father of her child with her wasn’t exactly an uncommon thing here.

Once they’d caught up, Dr. Park and the rest of the staff finally got the women moved outta triage, and Rob wasn’t surprised when the women insisted on being put together. It wasn’t a matter of how much Space they took up within this particular department, but rather one of personal Comfort. As they were quick to point out, they’d all pretty much seen everything except the other couple actually having sex. Provided everything was covered during exams, they wanted to be together while they were in labor, and the same went for their men.

“Fuckin’ _finally_ –I feel like I’ve been back in that dildo warehouse on twelve-hour shifts for four Days straight!”

Even Rob couldn’t help a soft chuckle at Aidan’s triumphant cry when she was finally deemed ready to start pushing, mostly at his wife starting awake from the Light doze she’d settled into. It’d been roughly nine hours since she’d made her Midnight call, meaning it was about nine in the Morn now, which was fairly normal. According to Dr. Park, most first-Time mothers spent anywhere from six-to-twelve hours in active labor, and roughly the same amount of Time in _early_ labor. That meant both women’d technically been in labor since sometime the afternoon previous, but hadn’t actually shown any real signs till the middle of the Night.

Since he’d still be within sight of her, the Silver Fox gave his wife a quick kiss before moving to one side of the ginger. While the OB/GYN was gowning up for the actual delivery, a nurse took up a position at the End of her bed and said she could start pushing, but to keep her efforts gentle. Normally, she and another nurse woulda been holding her legs up and open, but this was done by the menfolk this Time.

Ash took his place on the other side of his _fiancé’s_ bed, mimicking his older equivalent’s position and actions as he grabbed her left leg. That included holding her foot in his left hand, which the Silver Fox was doing with his right, so she’d essentially have a kick plate. He said from across the bed that she was no doubt to try kicking toward the End of the bed like she was pushing her feet against a wall, which was why delivery stirrups were made the way they were.

“Ya sure you’re not an OB nurse at the very least, yourself?” the nurse–Lisa–asked as she roseta let Dr. Park take her place. “Ya sure know your stuff like I’d expect outta a fellow OB nurse.”

“Nah, just been through this from Daddy’s End a couple Times before,” Rob chuckled. “Got two grown kids with the ex-wife.”

“Damn, and you’re starting over after all that?” she laughed.

“It was an accident–literally,” the Silver Fox answered with a laugh of his own.

“Yeah, that it definitely was,” Aerin agreed from her own bed. “Now, focus on her before one of these two decide they _really_ want out.”

“Yea, yea, sweetheart,” he said, he and his younger equivalent helping Aidan curl up for her first real push.

Rob let the younger bassist be the one to murmur words of encouragement to his _fiancé_ while he counted to ten for each push. She managed to average about eight, maybe nine seconds before she’d to stop for another breath, which wasn’t too bad. Considering she’d a Summer cold not too long ago that she was technically still recovering from, none of them were surprised she didn’t quite make it to ten each Time. The fact that she was making it as close as she was was a good sign, one that Dr. Park was apparently willing to work with without complaint.

It took about forty-five minutes of pushing before the ginger was able to reap any real results from her efforts, but the OB/GYN finally told her to _stop_ pushing. Ash looked freaked at first, which just made his older equivalent laugh and reassure him that this was normal. She’d to check for the cord once the head emerged, or they’d run the risk of the baby strangling before she could even be born.

Only slightly reassured by that, he turned his attention back to Comforting and reassuring Aidan, who was grumbling and cussing him out under her breath. The Silver Fox was able to make out only a few words, but the basic gist was calling him a mother fucker and swearing she’d rip his nuts off before she let him impregnate her again. He considered it a relatively typical response from a laboring mama who was pushing, and no doubt he’d get worse from his own wife shortly.

“All right, Aidan–gimme a gentle push,” Dr. Park said after about thirty seconds.

“Gods, I hope this part goes faster,” she groaned, grabbing the backs of her thighs as she took a deep breath again.

“Usually does, especially once the shoulders’re out,” the OB/GYN assured her. “That’s the hardest and most painful part of delivery.”

Rob chuckled as his younger equivalent looked like he wanted to ask why that was. “Hey, don’tcha think it’d hurt for _you,_ if you’d bones popping free of _your_ pelvic bone?”

“Well, yeah, I guess it would,” he answered with a chuckle of his own.

“Prolly worse actually, if men were the onesta give Birth,” Dr. Park laughed. “Your pelvic openings aren’t as wide as a woman’s since you’re not built to give Birth, after all.”

“I meant assuming male and female pelvises were built the same way!” the Silver Fox retorted.

It didn’t take much longer for Aidan to get her daughter’s shoulders out, and once she did, delivery was relatively quick like her doctor’d said it’d be. Before they knew it, the woman was cradling a tiny body to her breast so she could clear her airways enough for her to take her first breath. Given how blurry her vision was, it appeared the baby girl’d a head full of hair as black as her daddy’s, which wasn’t much of a surprise since red hair was actually a recessive trait.

Moving to lay her on her mama’s chest, Dr. Park continued rubbing her back and chest with one of the drapes used during a delivery. As they waited for her to at least gurgle, the new parents got their first good look at their daughter’s tiny lil face. Only Time’d tell for sure, but it appeared she’d her daddy’s nose and high, Native American cheekbones, but her mother’s lips. They couldn’t tell whose eyes she’d inherited since they were closed at the moment, but even if they’d been open, they’d to keep in mind that her eye Color might Change over Time like a lotta babies’ eyes tended to do.

A sudden odd Sound startled said new parents as Aidan’s arms seemed to develop a mind of their own and came up to cradle her newborn. Rob couldn’t help a chuckle as he quickly Calmed them, telling them to brace themselves as quick as they could possibly manage. Not two seconds after he’d closed his mouth, the newborn baby girl let out her first shriek, which was quickly followed by a rapid succession of them.

Leaving them to it, he moved back to his own wife’s side, where he settled in the chair that’d been put between her bed and the ginger’s. Aerin couldn’t help the smile on her face as she watched her friend cradle her baby almost possessively, her arms just barely moving enough to allow the OB/GYN access. Only when she figured out she was just trying to clamp the baby’s cord did she move enough to let her, but she still didn’t seem too inclined to let her go. Even Ash moving to cut her cord didn’t seem to make her wanna move much, especially when Lisa moved in to whisk her off seconds after it was cut. But she knew she’d be having the same reaction and then some–and sooner than they thought, if the sudden grunt she let out said anything.


	47. Forty-Six

Two hours after the Birth of Aidan’s and Ash’s daughter, there was a total of three perfectly healthy babies between the two couples. Said oldest girl outta the bunch’d been named Ember Phoenix Purdy, and the reasons behind her first and middle names were pretty solid and meaningful. It’d taken a few minutes for the right kinda Light to hit her head, but once it did, they saw that she’d some Coppery-looking highlightsta her black hair that she coulda gotten only from her mama. Her daddy said they reminded him of the glowing embers as a Fire burnt itself out, and they were pretty sure she was gonna have a relatively Fiery personality for a Gemini–or any other Air sign, for that matter.

On the other hand, her mama’d picked her middle name not based on the Mythological Creature that went out in a literal Blaze of Glory and was Reborn from its own ashes, but how it tied back to the younger bassist. After he’d been outed from his band in the Autumn of 2019, he’d chosen the Phoenix as his emblem before he’d even started recording any solo Music. Now, that particular Creature–or more aptly, the stylized version of its image–was heavily associated with his name the World over.

As for the twins born to the Silver Fox and his wife–well, their names were equally meaningful, just in different ways. Normally, Aerin wouldn’t have done something like giving siblings the same initials so they’d have their own sense of individuality. But this Time, she couldn’t help wanting to continue the trend started by his ex-wife–just with an additional letter–’cuz she really loved the name Zeppelin for a boy. It tied into his daddy’s career just as nicely as Ember’s middle name tied into _her_ daddy’s, and it was certainly a better given name than Stone, if one asked the young woman.

His twin sister’s name was Zephyrine, which was just the feminized version of Zephyr, but still meant _West Wind_ all the same. The young woman deemed it suitable for a baby that was any of the Air _or_ Water signs, ’cuz while the Winds were obviously a part of the Air, Water ruled the Cardinal Direction of West. Not only that, but it flowed with her desire to give her babies unusual names that’d make them stand out from the surrounding crowds as they aged. But she’d been smart enough to pick middle names they could go by, just in case they chose _not_ to utilize their given names ’cuz they _didn’t_ wanna stand out or be teased for them. It was kinda the same as her own name in that respect, ’cuz while spelled differently, at least Aerin sounded relatively normal–her middle name tied back to Greek Mythology and definitely _wasn’t_ such.

Rob hadn’t been able to deny his wife’s Wishes when she’d picked dual, hyphenated middle names for both babies, which she’d done months ago. She wanted both to be named after their own daddy as much as the man she considered _hers_ –which’d resulted in the first middle name of Robert and Roberta, respectively. It mighta been a lil old-fashioned for her tastes and the theme they were going for, but she’d still wanted to Honor the two men who meant the most to her. Besides, they meshed pretty well with their _second_ middle names–Bentley and Bailey, respectively–which’d a bit of a Southern flare to her. When their surname of Kuykendall was added to it, there was a flow to it almost as smooth as Water trickling through a Brook, or a Breeze blowing unhindered by Trees or Cliffs. No one could deny that she’d a knack for picking strange, but beautiful names, which was why her husband hadn’t tried to argue with her.

Now that the women were asleep and getting some more than well-deserved rest, though, said Silver Fox decided it was Time for a field trip, of sorts. He and his wife’d talked about something not even his older kids knew about several Times ever since finding out she was pregnant. Since she refused to go back on Birth Control for a few different reasons and rubbers obviously didn’t always work, there were only a couple more options open to them. Due to the number of roadblocks they’d run into after doing quite a bit of research and his own personal feelings on the matter, he’d decided he was putting himself on the line. Or maybe he should be saying _under the knife,_ considering what he was about to do while he’d the perfect opportunity.

“I’m taking a bit of a field trip, now that these two’re asleep,” Rob said quietly, catching the younger bassist’s attention.

All three babies’d since been taken to the newborn nursery for observation, which allowed all four new parentsta get some rest.

“What kinda field trip?” he asked as he glanced up at him.

“To have something done that I shoulda done a long Time ago,” the Silver Fox chuckled. “’Cuz it’s prolly the only foolproof way we’re gonna keep Aerin from conceiving again in the Future, unfortunately.”

Ash’s eyes widened in pure shock as what he was talking about Dawned on him. “Dude, you’re one brave fuckin’ man.”

“Brave, and prolly a lil stupid,” he chuckled, pushing himself up outta the chair he was in. “But like I said, I prolly shoulda had it done a long fuckin’ Time ago, anywhore.”

“You’re absolutely sure about this?” the younger bassist asked, pushing himself up to accompany him since both women were out like Lights.

“Definitely sure,” Rob answered, nodding as they headed out. “Just wait till we’re outta earshot of pretty much anyone else, as busy as this place’s gotten.”

Nodding, he couldn’t really argue as they approached the labor and delivery nurses’ station.

“Might I get someone to point me in the Direction of Urology?” the Silver Fox asked one of the nurses behind the desk.

“Suite two-twenty-two in B Building,” the one who bore the name tag reading Melanie answered, pointing in the Direction she meant. “I’d ask if you’re having certain troubles, but I’d like to think it’s a guarantee, if you’re asking for _that_ department.”

“Not exactly troubles, _per sé_ –more like wanting to take a preventative measure,” he chuckled. “And if not actually take it today, at least look into a lil more.”

Thanking her for what lil information he’d asked for, Rob mimed tipping his hat to her since he wasn’t wearing one as he headed off. The younger bassist was hot on his heels, if only ’cuz he didn’t know exactly how this lil field trip was gonna pan out any more than he did, himself. If it went the way he wanted it to, he’d no doubt need help getting back up to labor and delivery, if nothing else. He was no doubt gonna be sore, and if he wasn’t, it’d only be ’cuz whatever local anesthetic they’d given him hadn’t worn off yet.

“All right, now that we’re outta earshot,” Ash started once they were in an elevator by themselves. “I’m pretty sure you’re talking about having a vasectomy, so what on Earth madeja choose _that?”_

“Well, a number of different things, really,” he answered. “Firstly, the fact that I honestly _didn’t_ want more kids any more than Aerin wanted any to start with when we found out about her pregnancy.”

“Then why ya didn’t have this done Years ago, I can’t fathom,” the younger bassist laughed.

“Pure stupidity and not wanting a knife anywhere near my nuts,” Rob chuckled.

“Hey, at least you’re honest about it,” he told him.

The Silver Fox simply grinned as he shrugged. “Second reason’s that Aerin refusesta go back on Birth Control, and after what she was telling us about that being a good way to deplete her magnesium levels, I really don’t blame her.”

“I’m sure that’s not _all_ of it, though,” Ash mused. “I mean, why doesn’t _she_ get her tubes tied instead?”

“That’s where the problem _really_ comes in,” he said, grumbling under his breath. “Even though she’s legally of-age, pretty much _no_ doctor in the State’ll do it.”

The younger bassist’s brow furrowed as he wondered why on Earth a doctor’d refuseta perform such a simple procedure. After all, she hadn’t wanted kidsta start with, and given her rheumatoid arthritis alone, he’d think just about any doctor’d jump on such a thing. However, that was his first mistaken assumption when it came to sterilizing a female, especially one as young as his best friend.

Even though a woman’d to be at least eighteen in the State of Tennessee–which made sense, given that that was when folks were considered adults–they were in the middle of the Bible Belt. A doctor could refuseta do such a procedure for something as stupid as religious reasons, even if the patient in question was desperate for the procedure. The fact that she didn’t have even a single child when she’d first asked about it and was pregnant with the twins the next Time she’d asked led Rob to his next reason. Not even Dr. Park’d agree to performing a tubal ligation on her at her age on the grounds that she’d no doubt regret her decision later.

“That’s fuckin’ bullshit,” he spat as they stepped off the elevator in the main lobby of the building they were in. “She obviously didn’t want these two, but couldn’t bring herself to abort, so why would anyone tell her that?”

“’Cuz unfortunately, that’s just how the South–especially the mid- and Deep South–works, son,” the Silver Fox sighed.

“So, they won’t let _her_ get her tubes tied, even though she’s sure in her decision _and_ has a medical condition that pregnancy only aggravates, but they’ll do pretty much the same thing to _you_ just ’cuz you’ve gray hair?” Ash snorted so hard, he prolly coulda sucked his mucus membranes right into the back of his skull. “What a crock, man.”

“Yeah, it’s a double-standard, I know,” he agreed as they headed off toward B Building. “But if they’re not gonna sterilize _her_ for another decade or some such shit, I might as well put _myself_ in the line of fire, so to speak.”

“Might not be the _best_ choice for y’all, but it seems it’s the _only_ choice,” the younger bassist sighed.

“Pretty much,” Rob agreed. “So, if that means taking a knife to my nuts–well, I’d just as soon let a urologist chop them off and go on hormone replacements, if that’s what it took.”

His eyes widened in surprise as they headed into the building that housed their destination, ’cuz he’d never heard a man say something like that before. Most guys were so attached to their junk–and _not_ in a physical sense–that they wouldn’t even consider something like castration. But if his older equivalent was actually saying that–and with the level of seriousness his voice possessed–he knew damn good and well he’d thought it over and meant what he said.

Walking into the home of University Urology PC, the Silver Fox took a deep breath since he was definitely nervous, no matter how much he did or didn’t show it. After all, it wasn’t every Day that he walked into a doctor’s office, especially for something like what he was about to hopefully undergo. But even if he didn’t actually have a vasectomy done today, he was at least gonna ask about it and hopefully make an appointment to.

Luckily for him, one of the department’s top physicians–who also specialized in vasectomies, among other things–happened to be in this particular office today. He pretty much made his rounds between here, his office in Lenoir City, and another one in a Town called Crossville. At the moment, he actually had a free appointment slot he could be worked into for at least a consultation, but there were no guarantees it’d go beyond that today. He was warned that he may End up having to wait a week for an actual appointment, but he was perfectly content with that as he took the clipboard he was handed. After all, his main goal wasta even look into having such a procedure done, although he’d certainly be happier if it was during his wife’s postpartum period.

It wasn’t long before Rob heard his name called, which made him rise from where he’d taken a seat to fill out the paperwork he’d been handed. The nurse who’d called him looked like she wanted to stop his younger equivalent from coming back with him, which just made him give her a hard look. He told her that he was quite capable of asking him to step outta whatever exam room he wound up in, if he was uncomfortable with his presence during something. Beyond that, he not only wanted the support of a close friend, but to have someone to help him out, if he actually got his way today.

“Then c’mon back, and let’s start with getting your vitals,” she sighed.

Nodding, he followed her while Ash held the door, then made sure it was closed securely behind them.

“So, what exactly’re ya lookin’ for today, Mr. Kuykendall?” the nurse–Brenda–asked curiously as she led them to an open exam room.

“Hopefully to actually get a vasectomy done, and if not, then to make an appointment for that,” Rob answered.

“Judging by your apparent age, I’m not surprised by that,” she chuckled. “If I’m surprised by anything, it’s thatcha waited this long to even think about such a thing.”

“Ah, ya know–only had rubbers fail twice before now, but that was decades ago,” the Silver Fox said. “But now that I’m with a woman who prolly shouldn’t have had kidsta start with and definitely doesn’t want _more_ –well, one of us hasta do _something.”_

“Do ya mind my asking whatcha mean by that?” Brenda cocked a brow as she gestured for him to have a seat on the exam table and took the clipboard he’d been carrying.

“Well, my wife never wanted kids in the first place,” he explained. “The fact that she’s rheumatoid arthritis and has trouble maintaining her magnesium levels _really_ makes me not wanna accidentally father another pregnancy with her.”

The nurse couldn’t help a sympathetic wince as she wrapped a blood pressure cuff around his right arm, then motioned for both men to keep quiet. Rob nodded, said wife having explained to him how measuring a person’s blood pressure actually worked when it wasn’t done by a machine. He knew that if she couldn’t hear, she’d have to try again ’cuz she’d totally miss the Sound she was supposed to be listening for.

After a few moments, she ripped the cuff back off his arm and turned to record the measurement she’d gotten in the chart she’d started for him. While she was working on that and moving on to setting up so she could get his baseline temp, she couldn’t help asking if he was sure about what he’d apparently decided on. The Silver Fox couldn’t help a chuckle as he nodded, holding off on actually answering her since the thermometer’s probe was now settled under his tongue. Once it’d been pulled off and its cover ejected into the trash can next to the exam table, he was more than glad to answer her question.

“Well, aside from my wife’s feelings on the matter and her Health, I didn’t really want anymore kids, myself,” he admitted. “I’ve two _grown_ kids already with my _ex_ -wife, and I didn’t particularly fancy starting over again.”

“Then what madeja apparently do just that, if ya don’t mind my asking?” Brenda couldn’t help a laugh.

“Rectal prolapse repair last Year,” the Silver Fox answered in a level tone. “Got cut off for four weeks while I was recovering, and I was a bit of a dumbass due to desperation when I was finally cleared to go at it again.”

“Rectal prolapse?” Her eyes widened in surprise. “Good thing ya mentioned that, ’cuz that’s something Dr. Lacy’s gonna wanna know about.”

“Yeah, unfortunately.” Rob nodded as she added that to his chart. “Like I was saying, though, I was a bit of a dumbass and my wife was just as desperate. Next thing I know, she’s telling me the Night we handfasted that she was pretty sure she was pregnant and had found a ruptured rubber in the trash the Morn after I was cleared to have sex again and proposed.”

 _“Ahhhh,_ I see.” The nurse nodded. “It wasn’t thatcha _didn’t_ use any kinda contraceptive at all–it was that it was used improperly due to desperation-induced carelessness.”

“Exactly.” The Silver Fox Returned the nod as he laced his fingers together in his lap. “Since every doctor we’ve talked to– _including_ her current OB/GYN–won’t perform a tubal on my wife and we don’t wanna take anymore chances with even a rubber failing…”

“Vasectomies’re about as foolproof as it comes besides having the right kinda tubal or simply abstaining,” Brenda agreed with a Sage nod.

Ash snickered as he spoke up, saying that the chances of his friends abstaining were about as high as himself and his own _fiancé_ doing so. Well, that was outside any constraints like their postpartum periods, considering they were obviously gonna be cut off for a few weeks due to that, alone. That caught the nurse’s attention though, and neither man could help a grin as they admitted their womenfolk and newborns were all in labor and delivery or the newborn nursery, respectively.

Rob couldn’t help a laugh as the woman’s eyes widened in surprise, as if she’d thought he was kidding about having accidentally started all over again with a new baby. That was where he’d to correct her, though, by telling her that–in _his_ case, at least–it was actually _two_ new babies. As she thought about what he’d said before combined with that new lil piece of Intel, she got a better Understanding of why he was here right now.

Leaving on the grounds of letting the doctor she’d mentioned know he’d a patient waiting on him, she left the pair of men to their own devices for a lil bit. The younger bassist checked his phone to make sure neither of their women’d woken up and tried to text him to find out where they were. It appeared that both women were still asleep, which wasn’t exactly a surprise after at least nine hours of hard, active labor apiece. Otherwise, they were prolly getting help with a potty break before one of them or the other found their phone so they _could_ shoot off such a text.

However, both their minds were soon taken off their women and babies–at least for the moment–when a knock sounded on the exam room door.


	48. Forty-Seven

“Good afternoon, gentlemen. My name’s Dr. John M. Lacy, and I’m one of several urologists here at University Urology, PC.”

Rob nodded as he shook the hand of the man that’d entered after he’d called out permission, who quickly turned to shake his younger equivalent’s hand, as well. He wasn’t surprised by the man _not_ seeming surprised that he’d another guy with him, figuring that it was a pretty common occurrence. Not a lotta men wanted a woman with them for something like this, and some men’d even refuseta have a female physician for such a thing, even if the woman was well-versed in her field.

“So, I hear you’re wanting to at least look into a vasectomy?” Dr. Lacy asked after settling on the lil rolling stool that _all_ doctors’ offices seemed to put in their exam rooms.

“More than I _have_ been, yeah,” the Silver Fox answered with a nod.

“According to what Brenda put in your chart, I understand that you’ve four children already?” he asked.

“All total, two born just this Morn,” Rob chuckled. “They’re in the newborn nursery with _his_ new daughter unless they’ve been brought back to their mothers since we headed over here.”

The urologist’s brows rose in surprise.

“Yeah, I’ma lot older than my wife and already have two grown kids with the _ex_ -wife,” he said. “That’s part of why I want this done so bad, I can damn near taste it.”

“Hey, no judgment on my part–that’s not a part of my job description, after all,” Dr. Lacy laughed. “I guess I’m just surprisedja didn’t have this done sooner, if ya _really_ didn’t want anymore children.”

The Silver Fox minced no words in saying that he’d admit to having been a lil uncomfortable with and even afraid of the mere Thought of having a knife taken anywhere near his crotch in the Past. But after revealing his other reasons why he wanted such a thing done on top of his obvious advancing age, it was no surprise that he’d finally Changed his mind.

“I mean, my older son and daughter were conceived through a fluke when the rubbers failed,” Rob sighed. “Now the twins exist ’cuz I was a bit of a dumbass on top of it? Yeah, definitely need to have _something_ done, and since her OB/GYN won’t do a tubal on my wife ’cuz she’s only twenty-eight, it falls on me.”

“Do ya mind my asking whatcha mean by describing yourself as a bit of a dumbass?” The urologist cocked a brow at him curiously.

“Rectal prolapse repair last September,” he answered. “Once I was cleared to have sex again four weeks later, desperation turned myself _and_ my wife into a bit of a dumbass.”

_“Ahhhh,_ I see.” Dr. Lacy nodded as it clicked. “Improper use of a condom led to an accidental conception, right?”

“Yeah, and with what I was saying about her feelings on the matter _and_ her Health added to it…” the Silver Fox trailed off.

“I don’t blame ya for having been looking into a vasectomy, even if ya weren’t doing so quite as much till now,” he told him.

“Well, with her history of miscarriages, I didn’t wanna _totally_ take away her chances of having even a single kid, if she Changed _her_ mind later,” Rob admitted. “I figure, _if_ she managed to carry to term and survive a healthy delivery, I’d worry about it then.”

“Which’s actually a pretty good Time _to_ do such a thing,” the urologist told him. “The six-week postpartum period’ll give _you_ Time to Heal–which should only take about a week–as well as flush out the lines, so to speak.”

Even Ash was enthralled as Dr. Lacy explained that–for the first three months or ten-to-twenty ejaculations, whichever came first–there’d still be a chance of a woman conceiving after a vasectomy. That was ’cuz, while millions of sperm were ejected with every orgasm, there were a few that essentially got trapped in the duct work, as it were. Flushing out the lines following a vasectomy was somewhat akin to flushing out any other kinda pipeline, or thoroughly rinsing out a glass before pouring milk in it, if it’d previously contained Pepsi.

According to the urologist, the procedure itself was relatively simple and straightforward, as compared to a lotta other medical procedures. Unless he was too nervous, required another surgery while they were at it, or something similar, he’d be given a local anesthetic like he’d get for a cavity filling or to stitch up a wound. He shouldn’t feel any pain during the procedure itself, but he could always let him or whoever actually performed it know, if he did. Other than that, the only thing he should actually feel’d be some tugging and pulling from having his vas deferens pulled through a small incision made into his scrotum.

Rob still wasn’t exactly liking the Thought of having his sac sliced open, but if that was the worst he was supposed to feel besides the burn of the local till it kicked in, he’d take it. It certainly beat potentially impregnating his wife again by accident, or either of his previous, more invasive surgeries. The fact that the only real side effects or complications he oughta have were minor only added to his decisiveness on the matter.

Considering that he hadn’t done any of the _no-nos_ like taking any NSAIDs–and definitely no narcotic painkillers–in the week before now and had just showered upstairs, the Silver Fox managed to Luck out. The urologist actually had an open surgical slot that he could go ahead and be worked into since it was pretty obvious that he was sure in his decision. Given that he already had someone to help him at least back upstairs, then possibly home for the Night if he didn’t remain here with his wife, that only added to his being able to have it done right now. However, Dr. Lacy warned him that it’d be wiseta make sure he wore tight-fitting underwear or a jock strap immediately after the procedure.

“That’ll help support your scrotum, which’ll help reduce any pain,” he said. “After all, having the weight of your testes pulling down on even a single fresh incision won’t feel too pleasant, especially once the local wears off.”

“Good to know, considering they already hang lower than they did thirty Years ago,” Rob laughed. “I just don’t have either of those things with me at the moment.”

“Whereddaya live again?” the urologist asked.

“Down the road in Loudon,” he answered.

“I think you’ll be fine to go that far without either of those things, especially if your friend’s driving,” Dr. Lacy told him. “I just wouldn’t do anything more than that without something to provide some extra support _after_ ya actually get home.”

“That, I think we can manage,” Ash chuckled.

“Then lemme go get set up, and we’ll go ahead and take ya back,” he told him, extending his hand as he rose.

The Silver Fox was quick to accept the handshake before he left the exam room, although he was definitely a bit more nervous now. Even though part of him’d hoped this was how this lil field trip’d turn out, there was another part that didn’t think it’d actually happen. Course, by lucking out like this, it gave him less Time to rethink his decision and back outta having the procedure done by Changing his mind once again. He knew as well as his younger equivalent that no doctor was gonna be happy with a patient being so blatantly indecisive, and he really needed to get this done.

Brenda entered after giving a cursory knock, and Rob couldn’t help a groan at what he saw draped over her forearm. If there was one thing he hated about doctors’ offices and hospitals alike, it was the damned gowns that patients were forced to change into. And the head covers–which he required due to the length of his hair–were not only just as aggravating, but equally mortifying.

Luckily for him, she’d brought two of said gowns, which meant he wouldn’t have to worry about his bare ass being on display for everyone and their brother to see. Then again, he wasn’t too sure that was really gonna matter since he was about to be flat on his back with his legs held wide open for a doctor to filet his nuts, as it were. After all, he couldn’t imagine any doctor being able to perform such a procedure without his legs winding up in a set of stirrups.

“All right, Mr. Kuykendall–legs up in the stirrups,” Dr. Lacy chuckled once they were in the lil outpatient OR and he’d been put on a monitor just to play it safe.

“I swear, if I feel anyone touching my ass, I’ma Mule-kick whoever’s down there,” the Silver Fox warned him. “Not even my wife gets that privilege, damn it.”

“While that area _is_ in pretty close proximity to where I’ma be working, that shouldn’t be a problem,” he laughed. “And if my hand _does_ brush that area, it’s simply to do the procedure.”

“Hey, can’t blame me for throwing that warning out there,” Rob chuckled. “I think my ass was played with enough when I was too drugged to notice last Autumn ’cuz the ER team was trying to _fix_ my issue without surgery.”

“Oh, I completely understand,” the urologist assured him as a couple nurses spread sterile drapes over his legs, lower belly, and part of his pelvis. “I imagine I’d feel much the same way, if not identically, were I under such circumstances.”

“At least you’re relatively Compassionate on that note,” he said. “Haven’t had many doctors over the course of my Life that were like that.”

“I aim to treat my patients the same way _I’d_ wanna be treated,” Dr. Lacy told him, taking his place once he’d scrubbed in, not to mention gowned and gloved up. “Now, we’re gonna start with the local. You’re gonna feel a pinch and a burn, ’cuz that’s just how locals are, so lemme know if ya feel anything worse than that.”

“You’ll know if I do,” the Silver Fox chuckled. “If I don’t let out worse than a groan, you’re gonna think my legs’re made of Steel since I usually don’t react to pain any other way.”

Laughing as he took the syringe held out to him by one of the nurses, he gave him a countdown before actually inserting it on the left side. Poor Rob couldn’t help a wince at even a gentle pinch in such a sensitive area, nor the groan that followed as he felt the burn he’d warned him about. Even though he’d known it was coming, it was a lil worse than he’d been anticipating, no doubt due to the sensitivity of that region to start with.

After injecting the local into the right side of his sac, the urologist left him alone for a few minutes so it’d have Time to kick in. He already couldn’t stand dentists and other doctors who didn’t allow _more_ than enough Time for their patientsta be fully numb, so he tried to do the opposite. Considering that a man’s genitalia were already so sensitive since that was how they were designed, he definitely tried to allow more than the recommended amount of Time for even a local to kick in. They usually lasted a few hours after injection, so allowing an extra five minutes immediately afterward usually didn’t hurt.

Rob definitely didn’t feel any pain when he gently poked where he was gonna make his incision with a scalpel just to test him. It was something he certainly appreciated, whether he did that with all his patients during this kinda procedure or not. Testing his sensation level before he actually started would at least tell him if he needed to give him a bit more Time, or even a bit more of the local. But since he didn’t feel even that gentle poke with a sharp object, he saw no reason _not_ to dive right in, so to speak.

Once the tiny incision’d been made on the left side of his sac, the only thing the Silver Fox felt was that aforementioned tugging and pulling. He couldn’t help a bit of a grimace at that sensation, which made the nurse stationed up at his head to monitor his vitals ask if he was all right. A soft laugh rang out before he said that he was fine, just not liking how weird what lil he could actually feel–well, felt. Dr. Lacy was quick to assure him that pretty much every guy he performed this procedure on said that, and having gotten a vasectomy of his own, he could totally relate. It wasn’t exactly pleasant or comfortable to feel fingers digging around in something they were technically never meant to be in to Begin with.

“I’d honestly compare it to a prostate exam,” he chuckled. “Been there, done that, and I think I’d rather take my chances with cancer over going through it again.”

“At least this is a one-Time-only thing,” the urologist laughed. “’Cuz once it’s done, it’s not like you’ll have anyone else digging around in such an intimate area.”

“Fuck, I’ll find a way to suck my own dick before I let _that_ happen!” Rob retorted with another laugh of his own. “And I’d much rather leave that up to my wife whenever she gets a Wild Hare up her ass!”

He’d to pause in what he was doing before he accidentally made a mistake as the entirety of the few people in the small room cracked up.

“Then I guess it’s safe to assume ya won’t be Changing your mind and wanting a reversal later,” Dr. Lacy chuckled once he’d settled down.

“Only if somebody comes up with a way to turn back my clock thirty Years,” the Silver Fox said. “And even then, prolly not–the missus still prolly won’t want more kids any more than I do.”

“Well, I don’t think technology’s gonna improve _that_ vastly till long after even your wife’s dead and gone,” he told him. “The good thing’s that _you_ won’t be waiting that long for me to stitch ya up since I’m almost done down here.”

Rob couldn’t help a soft, but excited cheer, readily admitting that his current position was more than a lil weird. Not only that, but the stirrups keeping his legs spread like they were was starting to pull on his hips funny since it wasn’t quite the same as sitting with his legs spread. He made it clear that it wasn’t exactly painful unless one counted that angle pulling on his knee even more oddly, but he’d definitely be glad when he was let up from here.

After throwing a few dissolvable stitches into each of the tiny stitches he’d made, Dr. Lacy wrapped a couple layers of gauze around his sac. He was gentle about pulling his flaccid shaft back down from where he’d flipped it up onto his belly as he told him the gauze wasta prevent as much irritation as possible. Not only that, but there might be a small amount of discharge like with _any_ incision, which’d be soaked up by the gauze.

Once the procedure was deemed complete–although it’d take a while for it to be deemed a Success–the Silver Fox was finally allowed to pull his legs back outta the stirrups. The nurse up at his head helped him sit up once all the drapery’d been removed, if only to make sure he didn’t get a head-rush from sitting up too fast. It was then that he was told he was gonna be kept in an outpatient recovery room for a short while, just to make sure nothing went wrong. As long as he hadn’t taken a sudden turn for the worse in the next half-hour or so, he’d be sent on home–or more aptly, back up to labor and delivery–to Begin his recovery. Like had been said before, that recovery shouldn’t take more than a week, provided no infection set in or anything of the sort.

In the small recovery room, the urologist gave him his post-op care instructions after Ash’d been allowed to join him again. He wanted him to rest for the first Day afterward, particularly catching up on any lost sleep from his wife having gone into labor when she did. Any swelling could be treated with an Ice pack, although that and any mild pain could also be relieved with things such as Motrin, Aleve, or Tylenol. He, personally preferred a recommendation of Tyenol since it wasn’t an NSAID, which the other two were, provided he didn’t have any liver problems. It was entirely up to any given patient, but due to NSAIDs thinning the blood, it could cause more bleeding–which wasn’t likely to happen, provided he didn’t rip his stitches out. All he could make were recommendations based on his medical Knowledge and personal experience, not the actual choice.

After his half-hour in post-op was up, Rob was finally allowed to change back into his own clothes, which was more than a bit of a relief. Even though he didn’t exactly like it, he let the younger bassist help him back into his boxers and jeans just to prevent a fall that’d the potential to rip out said stitches. Once he’d his shirts back on, too, he got himself checked out so he could head back to labor and delivery for a lil while longer. Due to still being numb, he decided to walk for the moment just so he could see how he did, his younger equivalent ready to be a kickstand of sorts for him.

The Silver Fox didn’t regret his decision in the slightest, and he still prolly wouldn’t once the local wore off and he was feeling even a dull ache. At least now, his wife wouldn’t be able to conceive–at least, not with him–since he’d every Intention of beating his meat as much as possible during her postpartum period. He doubted any amount of pain could get him to regret a decision that led to that End, even though he still loved her and all four of his kids.


	49. Forty-Eight

_September, 2022_

_Loudon, Tennessee_

It’d been almost four months since Aerin and Aidan’d given Birth on the same Day, and the first of the two Autumn Sabbats– _Mabon,_ the young woman said–was just a Day away. Said Sabbat was commonly referred to as the _Witches’ Thanksgiving,_ and whether celebrated in September or November, they certainly had plenty to be thankful for this Autumn.

All three babies were deemed in perfect Health for their ages, each of them hitting all their milestones pretty much exactly when they were supposed to. Zeph and Zep mighta been a week or so behind their surrogate cousin in hitting a few of those milestones, but that wasta be expected. They were technically born a month early simply due to a lack of Space in the womb at that point, but it obviously wasn’t _that_ detrimental to them. If their only problems were being such a short distance behind Ember in hitting a few milestones–like rolling over and starting to hold their bottles on their own–they’d take that over something worse.

Just as he’d been told the Day of his twins’ Births and the procedure, Rob was Healed from his vasectomy in about a week. His first post-op appointment with Dr. Lacy’d proved that the tiny incisions made into his sac were pretty much gone, as was what lil bit of pain he’d felt once the local’d worn off. It’d taken not quite two months after that to completely flush out his lines, so to speak, but now he didn’t have to worry about buying rubbers just to avoid an accidental pregnancy again.

Both daddies were stretched out for naps with their babies while the mamas were taking care of a few last minute things for the next Day’s celebration. The twins seemed to do best when they were kept together, which Aerin swore was due to how used to sharing their Space they already were. She said that most multiples reacted that way after Birth, and that she’d rather keep them in the same crib–or on the same parental chest–if it meant they did better. If not for that reason, her husband wouldn’t have been laid back in his recliner with them snoozing on his chest, his typical button-down wrapped around them like a blanket. And that was much the case with Ash and Ember, who were sprawled out on the couch together as they napped. Said baby girl was often fussy, if her daddy wasn’t holding her like this, and it was obvious she was gonna be a _Daddy’s girl_.

Only moments after they’d gotten the last of the food they’d been cooking for tomorrow in the fridge, both women heard a knock at the front door. Thinking it might be Don since he and his kids’d been invited for the celebration, but only said ginger man was able to make it, they weren’t too worried. Even still, the young woman made sure her pistol was holstered on her hip, Aidan double-checking the scabbard on her belt as they headed to the foyer. While they might not actually be worried, even if any other guests shouldn’t be arriving till tomorrow, they weren’t taking any chances. Not with three defenseless babies in the house, even though they’d more than enough adultsta protect them from anybody who showed up.

“Can I help y’all?” Aerin drawled, her expression immediately turning bemused when she opened the door and saw two of four faces she never thought she’d see in person.

“Uh, maybe, if we’re at the right place,” the shorter of the pair answered. “My name’s Jeremy, but most know me as Jinxx.”

“Oh, I know exactly who _both_ of y’all are,” she told him. “’Cuz if this ain’t one Christian _CC_ Coma, I’ll eat my own foot.”

Both mens’ eyes widened in surprise.

“Yeah, I was once a fan of your band–key word there _once,”_ the young woman said. “Trust me when I say I’m not anymore, andja couldn’t pay me enough to get me to listen to even pre-2019 works these Days.”

“I concur,” Aidan spoke up from where she was openly playing with her favorite dagger behind her. “Then again, one can’t really blame me for not exactly finding Joy in a lotta the works by a band who did my husband so dirty, even the ones he _was_ a part of.”

“I’d say we’re in the right place, Jinxx,” CC mused. “Well, as far as finding Ash goes. Not too sure how I feel about walking in there, invited or otherwise, with two armed women who clearly don’t like us.”

“Never said we didn’t like y’all as men,” Aerin told him. “Mostly just as recording artists.”

“We’re generally open-minded enough to consider even new facts and sidesta a story,” the ginger agreed. “But till we _get_ such information, we run with what we’ve got–which doesn’t paint y’all in too pretty a portrait, so to speak.”

“Which’s actually why we’re here,” Jinxx said. “We wanted to let Ash know personally that we’re finally sick of Andy’s behavior–which’s only gotten worse since he was outed, by the way.”

“We’re not asking him to come back to _that_ toxic cesspool, or join another band with us and Jake–who’s also sick of Andy’s shit,” the taller of the pair agreed. “But he apparently Changed his number, and it was all we could do to track him down so we _could_ get in touch with him.”

“And I believe that about as much as I believe my nuts got ripped off and stapled to the side of my head a few months ago.”

Turning so that she could see behind her, but still keep an eye on the pair in her front doorway, the young woman saw Ash glaring at his former band mates. He gently turned Ember over to her mother before pointing outside, apparently not wanting to get into this in the house. None of them knew quite how such a conversation’d turn out, and if having it outside avoided startling peacefully-sleeping babies awake, they were all for it.

Aerin let him lead the other pair out front before turning to join her own husband, who was looking sleepily confused as he sat up with their own babies still snuggled against his chest. She couldn’t help a chuckle as she made to take their son from him, which aided him in getting up since he now had a hand free. But even as she cradled said son, she wasn’t surprised he asked who on Earth’d shown up, if it wasn’t one of their impending _Mabon_ guests. He’d every right to know who showed up at their house, especially if they could pose even the slightest threat to any of the babies.

“A pair of Ash’s old band mates,” the young woman answered.

“How on Earth did they find him here?” Rob asked, yawning as soon as he’d gotten the question out.

“My guess–a PI,” she answered. “Apparently, they got sick of their tyrannical band mate’s shit and decided to quit, but couldn’t get in touch with Ash to tell him, themselves.”

“So, they basically decided to stalk him to do it,” the Silver Fox dead-panned. “Gee, that’s a _great_ way to get on a former stalking victim’s _good_ side.”

Aerin couldn’t help a soft giggle at his sarcasm, which made Zep grunt and squirm. _“Shhhh,_ lil man–Mama’s sorry that Daddy’s a clown sometimes.”

“Do I _look_ like I belong in a circus or rodeo to you?” he chuckled as they headed to the master suite to put the twins in their crib for now.

“Well, ya _are_ pretty wild,” the young woman giggled.

“I don’t think I’m quite _that_ wild,” Rob retorted, unable to help a grin.

Both were quick to settle the babies they held in their crib, Zep and Zeph almost immediately grabbing their twin’s hand in their sleep. Neither baby so much as stirred beyond giving their paci a cursory suckle and sighing contently as their mother turned on the baby monitor. Course, they almost never reacted any other way once they were deep asleep, which was one of the things their parents were thankful for.

With the twins settled in their crib to finish their nap, the couple headed back out toward the living room, the baby monitor clipped to Aerin’s left hip. They weren’t surprised to find the ginger nursing her daughter, said woman shrugging and pointing toward the front yard when they asked if her man’d come back in yet. If she were completely honest, she was actually starting to get a lil worried since she hadn’t heard any screaming and yelling, but didn’t know if any of the trio were still alive or not. Since she was curious in her own right, the young woman headed for the foyer, her husband hot on her heels.

Out in the front yard, Ash stood with his weight braced mostly on one foot, his arms crossed over his chest in a manner that clearly said he was on edge. Even Rob could tell–despite hanging back at the front door–that he wasn’t liking the presence of these two men. If what his wife’d told him about their being his former band mates was true, he wasn’t exactly surprised by him having that reaction. He couldn’t say he’d be too happy by former band mates practically stalking him, had he been outed from Poison like his own CC once was.

“And why should I believe _any_ of that?” he asked, his toes starting to tap.

“We never saidja had to,” Jinxx answered with a shrug. “We’re both smart enough to know we’d have to prove it to ya.”

“Damn right, y’all will,” the younger bassist grumbled, moving to wrap an arm around his best friend once she wandered up to his side. “’Cuz even if I _wasn’t_ a stubborn, skeptical bastard, _this one_ wouldn’t lemme just take y’all at your word.”

“Their word on what, exactly?” she asked, cocking a brow up at him.

“Wait, I thought the redhead was your wife,” CC said, now looking confused.

“Oh, not for my lack of trying with this one,” Ash chuckled, earning himself an elbow to the ribs. “Well, it’s true!”

“Yeah, and I think we both know that–even if I’d have fuckedja till your eyes were permanently rolled back in your head–I still prefer my Silver Fox,” the young woman snickered.

“Too well I know it, girl,” he laughed. “Besides, I like my girls a lil less _vertically-challenged.”_

“I ain’t vertically-challenged, asshat–I’m fun-sized!” Aerin retorted with a grin. “Then again, maybe it’s just that everybody around me’s a fuckin’ giant, your girl included!”

“Okay, even if she _is_ a scary bitch, I like this one,” the taller of the pair before them cackled. “Can we keep her, Papa Jinxx?”

“Not your buddy ya need to be asking,” Rob chuckled from the front stoop. “That woman belongsta no man–even me–except by her own choice.”

“Tat’s on my back to prove it, courtesy of Ash,” the young woman said with a grin.

Naturally, the pair were curious as to what she meant, which made her turn so that her back was facing them. Ash couldn’t bite back a chuckle as he hauled up the hem of her tank top for her, putting her Faeries and possession tat on full display. He knew damn good and well they prolly wouldn’t quite get the words that made up the tat at first, which just made his grin grow even wider.

 _“Property of Voodoo Dall?”_ Jinxx said, his brow furrowing.

“Old handle given to me by the media, boys,” the Silver Fox said, finally joining them. “It’s kinda a running joke between us now.”

“Basically, that means I belong to no man but Rob, and only then by my own choice,” Aerin told them, yanking her shirt back down and turning to face them. “I kinda like calling him _Voodoo Dall_ ’cuz he’d to’ve cast a spell on me as much as he swears _I_ cast one on _him.”_

“Nah, ya didn’t cast a spell on me–ya bewitched me with that Siren Song of yours,” he laughed as he wrapped his arms around her almost possessively.

“Well, to bring ya up to speed, sis…” his younger equivalent said as his expression turned bemused. “Not too sure I believe ’em yet, but they swear that they and Jake got sick of Andy’s bullshit and decided to leave him high and dry.”

“So they were telling me right after I answered the door,” the young woman dead-panned.

“Apparently, he’s been so focused on pounding a kid into his girl–which _still_ hasn’t worked–that he’s pretty much torn the band to shreds with his Control-freak Nature and mood swings,” Ash drawled.

She couldn’t help a laugh as she pointed out that she’d told him right after they first met that Andy’d always struck her as being worse than Bret in that particular department. Now that she’d met and gotten to know the latter for herself, she could definitely say he was a bit of a moody Control freak sometimes, but he always put those he loved and cared about first. In fact, he’d put those friends and other loved ones first to the point that he sometimes neglected himself, which he really shouldn’t be doing due to his Health.

Jinxx couldn’t help cocking his head to one side as something niggled at the back of his brain, his blue-gray eyes widening when it suddenly Dawned on him. He’d thought the gray-haired man that’d joined them looked familiar somehow, but it wasn’t till she mentioned the name _Bret_ that it clicked. Even though one of the many collective Influences on his now-former band included Poison, he’d never actually met any of its members.

Rob couldn’t help a laugh as the shortest man called him out on being a member of one of the biggest bands in hair Metal. He didn’t bother trying to deny his identity, although he definitely made it clear that he _didn’t_ wanna be called Bobby, especially in front of his wife. While he tried to keep a lower profile outside his own band, he was simply too famousta deny who he was altogether, and he knew it. Then again, he and his younger equivalent were both generally so private with their Lives outside anything involving their bands that–depending on the topic–they made each other look like open books sometimes. But that was one of the reasons why they got along so well for being roughly a generation apart in age, not just ’cuz they were both musicians.

It wasn’t long before Aerin suggested they take this powwow inside, if everybody could manage to get along and behave themselves. Wearing a downright demonic grin, she warned the pair of newcomers that in her house, Kindness and Karma came out to play, if one didn’t respect her rules. After that, anyone they choseta target took a final trip down the road to _Dead Man’s Farm_ to become their newest attractions. Her best friend laughed as he translated her words, which basically meant don’t give her reason to bust out her Swords, or they’d be leaving in body bags.

“So, Ash–how on Earth didja meet these two? ’Cuz they’re _quite_ the characters, and I doubt it was through something like a _Craig’s List_ ad.”

Aerin pretty much completely ignored the four new eyes in her living room as she nursed her babies, who were now awake from their nap. The look on her face as she sat there on the couch, no shirt on and both sides of her nursing bra wide open, pretty much dared the pair to look anywhere _but_ her face. But it was the evil grin on her face that warned them it wasn’t her possessive Silver Fox of a husband they’d to worry about, if they did something she didn’t like.

“Man, that’s a tale stranger than fiction,” Ash laughed, now settled next to his own wife–who still wasn’t exactly happy with the presence of these two–his baby girl in his lap.

“Can’t possibly be _that_ strange,” the shorter of the pair lounging on the love seat chuckled.

“Oh, so ya don’t think being held at Swordpoint by a squatter in one of your flips is all that strange?” he retorted with a grin.

“Wait, what?” CC’s equally brown eyes widened in surprise.

“That was how I met Aerin,” the younger bassist said. “She broke into a house I was flipping in the Summer of 2019 to take shelter from a Twister that went through the Nashville area.”

“Got sick of my mother’s abuse and took off,” Aerin supplied when they turned curious looks on her. “I made it as far as Nashville before that happened, then he found me when he and one of his buddies showed up to survey for damage.”

“When I realized she was homeless and really _didn’t_ wanna have to hurt me _or_ Jere–well, I couldn’t just leave her there,” Ash sighed. “Took her back home with me, and the next thing I know, I’ve pretty much got the lil sister I never had growing up.”

“Not to mention a wife ready to go on the attack like a redheaded Pit Bull for ya,” the young woman laughed.

Aidan didn’t even try to deny that she’d react in such a manner when it came to her husband and daughter, even though she knew the former was more than capable of protecting himself. Then again, she pointed out that their best friend was much the same way with her own husband, who tended to stay outta trouble a lot more than in his Youth. Said older man simply shrugged as he got ready to take his younger daughter to burp her, saying that there just wasn’t any appeal in that shit anymore. It’d been about eighteen different flavors of fun back then, especially when he was still drinking, but now, he’d other ways of having even more fun.

“And yeah, that includes my sex Life, before y’all ask,” Rob chuckled, shooting a pointed look before the other pair as he settled his baby girl against his shoulder.

“Part of me wantsta ask how, considering the obvious age difference between you and Aerin, but another part wantsta be respectful and just keep my mouth shut,” the shorter one said with a chuckle of his own.

“Boy, just ’cuz I’m thirty Years older than her, gray-headed, wrinkly, and got snipped don’t mean my dick’s broke!” he laughed.

“Especially not when the Pop Rocks get busted out,” his wife snickered.

 _“Ahhhh,_ fuck me, nekkid and runnin’,” the Silver Fox said, his eyes rolling back in remembered pleasure. “I’m still not sure what makes me remember the first Time ya ever did that to me more!”

Even the taller of their unexpected guests cocked a brow curiously.

“Long story short, a mouthful of Pop Rocks during a blow-job after a man’s been deprived for four weeks tendsta be more than a _lil_ brain-rebooting,” Aerin chuckled. “Hence, these two.”

“Wait, really?” he asked, looking surprised.

“Well, I won’t claim to be a _Fertile Myrtle,_ as it were, but I’m definitely not barren,” the young woman laughed. “Add in being cut off for four weeksta Heal from surgery, and let’s just say he was already desperate enough for a _Good Love_ kinda Night.”

“I’m not sure I _wanna_ ask about that one,” Jinxx chuckled.

Her husband’s expression turned devious as he and Ash both took a breath, and she knew what was coming next.

 _“So, I roll ’er over in the middle of the Night, and I rock my babeh till the Mornin’ Light… Gettin’ hot_ – _good Love,”_ they sang in unison.

Neither of the visiting pair could help cracking up at the blatantly sexual lyrics, which drowned out Zep’s and Zeph’s burpsta all but their parents. They couldn’t say they’d expected something like that, even though they prolly shoulda, considering the era in which Rob’s band was most popular. In addition to that, said band was well-known for its party-rock anthems and other sexual tunes, some of which got even dirtier than that.

“Okay, now _that_ was fuckin’ hilarious!” CC laughed.

“It was almost like you’d practiced it just for today,” his shorter companion agreed.

“Nah, we’ve just gotten to know each other that well,” the younger bassist denied. “Besides, us doing that ain’t what’s funny.”

“Nothing beats when Aerin unleashes her Siren Song and starts messing with her man’s head,” Aidan snickered.

“So, I’m an Air Witch who doubles Primarily as a Music Witch,” said young woman chuckled. “Leaving biting me to Rob, or I’ma deck ya.”

The Silver Fox mockingly nibbled on her shoulder, which made her stiffen and shoot him a bemused look outta the corner of her eye.

 _“Ya know I never…I never seen ya look so good… Ya never act the way you should_ – _but I like it…and I know you like it, too, the way that I want you… I gotta have you_ – _oh, yes, I do!”_ Aerin sang, her voice taking on a breathy Sound like it always did on this song.

Even Jinxx and CC looked surprised, both at how gorgeous her voice was and at how her husband’s eyes widened, his pupils dilating.

 _“Ya know I never…I never, ever stay out late_ – _ya know that I can hardly wait…just to see you… And I know you cannot wait…a-wait to see me, too… I gotta touch you, ’cuz baby, we’ll be…”_ she continued, smirking as she purposely cut herself off there.

“Woman, I swear,” Rob grumbled, crossing his legs as he twitched behind his zipper. “You’re gonna be the Death of me one Day.”

“At least you’ll die with a smile on your face,” the young woman told him, her smirk turning into a cheeky grin.

Not even Ash and Aidan could help a laugh as that brought back to mind something the Silver Fox’d been quoted as saying in an interview one Time. He’d said that if one ever left a Poison concert with a frown on their face, they needed to get some professional help. While it might be for a totally different reason, they were pretty sure that a slight amendment to that statement could make it true about his sex Life.

Thinking about it like that, he couldn’t deny that his friends were right, ’cuz he’d definitely said that about his band for decades. In fact, he actually remembered the interview he’d done with the Houston Chronicle back in 2002 where he’d said that and actually quoted himself. When one thought about it, there was no way he could ever leave his bed with anything but a smile on his face, whether there’d been any raunchy fun or not. His wife was simply a full-on cuddle bug, so even just pulling her against him as they settled down for the Night to catch some _Zs_ put a smile on his face.

It wasn’t more than a few hours after that that the young woman was getting her impromptu guests settled in the basement guest suite. Aerin wasn’t surprised that her best friends weren’t quite willing to let Jinxx and CC join them at their own home, but she wasn’t of quite the same mentality. While she was definitely a bit wary–if only due to having two infants in the house–she was more of a mind to keep her enemies where she could see them, rather than giving them a chanceta stab her in the back.

Zach happened to be taking Night shift with his infant siblings since he’d the Night off work, but still needed to stay on his graveyard shift schedule as much as he could. He assured his stepmother that he’d keep an ear out for their impromptu guests and try to nip any trouble in the bud before she’d to get involved. Even his dad knew that’d be their better scenario, if they were even thinking of trying anything–the younger man might be quite the fighter, but he wasn’t as brutal as his stepmother. Both Jinxx and CC shot a look at each other before assuring them that–even though they hadn’t even entertained such a notion–they definitely wouldn’t be now, then bid their hosts a good Night.


	50. Forty-Nine

“So, what on Earth’s this _Mabon_ you’ve been talking about, exactly?”

Aerin’d wound up getting up early with the twins, who’d woken up hungry and in need of a diaper change around seven-thirty. She’d purposely dealt with them herself, rather than waking her husband since he didn’t like getting up till at least eight, if he didn’t have to be up earlier. It’d been a bit of a surpriseta find Jinxx already in the kitchen, where he’d apparently been searching for a coffee mug. His Silently offering to take one of the babies for her in exchange for that mug was an even bigger surprise, and even though she’d been wary, she’d still handed Zeph over to him since she needed the extra hands.

“Basically, think Thanksgiving mixed with _Dia de los Muertos,”_ she said in responseta the question she’d been asked as she was getting an entire pot of coffee going, not just single cups with their Keurig.

“How on Earth couldja manage to combine _those_ two holidays?” Jinxx asked with a soft laugh, Zeph content where she was snuggled against his chest.

“Well, it’s the second of three harvest festivals from the middle of Summer to the middle of Autumn,” the young woman explained. “The first’s _Lughnasadh,_ which’s also sometimes called _Lammas_ –that one’s on August first, and in celebration of the Corn and Grain harvest.”

“All right, I guess that kinda makes sense,” he said, nodding.

_“Mabon’s_ the second, around the Time that things like Apples and Grapes’re ripe for picking,” Aerin continued. “Not only do we give thanks for things like a good harvest thus far, but we start the remembrance angle that _really_ comes in at the final harvest festival.”

“And which one’s that?” the multi-instrumentalist asked.

_“Samhain,_ which’s the same Night as Halloween, but a completely different ball game,” she answered. “It’s not only the final harvest–of things like Punkins and other Gourds–but the Night when one remembers and Honors the Dead. The Veil between Otherworlds is also at its thinnest due to the God dying and crossing over till his Rebirth at _Yule,_ so it’s a great Time for contacting and working with the Dead, too.”

“So basically, _Mabon’s_ kinda like the in-between of the first and last harvest festival?” Jinxx asked.

“In a weird sorta way, yeah.” The young woman nodded, beckoning him over to pour his mug once the coffee was done brewing.

Just as she was getting her own poured and doctored up the way she wanted it, she heard something rustle behind her. Glancing over her shoulder toward the back hall, she couldn’t help a smile as she saw Bobby rubbing his eyes as he stumbled into the kitchen. There was just something about him fresh outta bed and nowhere near completely awake that was just flat-out adorable to her.

A hum drifted from his throat as the Silver Fox leaned down to steal a _good-Morn_ kiss, one hand pausing at the neck of his shirt to keep his glasses from falling off. He almost never bothered with putting them on till _after_ he’d gotten his coffee, considering that he usually couldn’t see straight till then. But regardless of when he put his glasses on and could see straight, at least he was still adhering to the lil-to-no caffeine rule. Most Days, he didn’t bother with anything caffeinated since he was too scared of having a relapse, but there were a few that he’d indulge in a single caffeinated drink.

Poor Jinxx could apparently tell the difference right off the bat, though, which made the couple laugh as Bobby took his younger daughter from him. The poor guy looked like he wanted to dump out the mug he’d poured himself, but like he didn’t wanna seem rude at the same Time. At least he was quickly reassured that he wasn’t losing his mind, and that they wouldn’t be offended by him giving in to that urge to dump it, rather than torturing himself with it.

“Ya sure about that, guys?” he asked uncertainly.

“It’s a switch that’s not easy to make, son,” the Silver Fox chuckled with a nod. “Trust me, I didn’t like it at first, either.”

“Then what on Earth didja make it for?” Jinxx asked, cocking a brow curiously as he dumped his mug.

“’Cuz I rather like living to see another Sunrise, not dying on the can with my guts hanging out my ass,” he answered.

“Jesus Christ!” The multi-instrumentalist’s jaw dropped. “Thanks for ruining my appetite for the rest of my Life, but how the hell’d something like _that_ happen?”

“Dehydration.” Bobby gently shifted the baby in his arms when she started to fuss a bit. “Caffeine’s actually a diuretic, so only about half of anything caffeinated thatcha drink gets soaked up by your body–the rest gets pissed right back out.”

“Add in the heat of the Mojave Desert since we were wrapping up the _Stadium Tour_ at the Time, and it was just made even worse,” the young woman added.

“The dehydration led to constipation, and all the straining from trying to relieve that basically sheered my guts away from my pelvic wall,” he told him.

“So, it was basically a _doctor’s orders_ kinda thing?” Jinxx asked.

“Six on one, half a dozen on the other,” the Silver Fox answered. “I didn’t necessarily _have_ to listen to my surgeon about that–I _choseta_ listen, ’cuz the Day they’ve to shoot me up with Fentanyl so I’ll quit crying like a baby again, they better be putting me in the ground.”

“And now, with these two–yeah, ya definitely don’t wanna be doing anything stupid,” he said, gently caressing each of the babies’ cheeks.

“Well, I didn’t exactly wanna leave behind Zach and Zoe too soon, either,” Bobby chuckled. “’Cuz these two were a result of _that_ as much as those Blessed Pop Rocks.”

Once he’d taken his younger son so he could settle in his recliner with them, the multi-instrumentalist couldn’t resist jumping in to help with getting breakfast going. He actually enjoyed cooking with his own wife, so when Aerin said that there were a few parts of today’s feast that were better prepared immediately before consumption, his eyes’d lit up. Since she’d to cook for so many, though, having the extra hands while her husband was pinned down by snuggle bunnies wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

CC soon came up from the guest room in the basement, his hair an absolute mess and barely held back by his bandana. The young woman couldn’t help a laugh any more than her stepdaughter could since Zoe’d finally emerged from her bedroom at roughly the same Time. Even the Silver Fox wasn’t immune to a chuckle at how ridiculous he looked, knowing he wouldn’t have looked much better, if he hadn’t paused to brush his own hair.

Roughly the Time that Jinxx and the young woman finally got the _Faerie Spice Cakes_ they’d been working on plated alongside things like Eggs and meat, the Purdys let themselves in. Baby Ember seemed to be wide awake and ready to play, her mama seeing like she just needed coffee to finish waking up. However, her daddy looked like he hadn’t slept a wink the Night previous, no matter what and how hard he had or hadn’t tried. That was a bit concerning to his friends since he didn’t tend to have any insomnia, but then again, he’d gotten quite the surprise the afternoon previous.

“Ya all right, Ash?” Aerin asked.

“Couldn’t sleep last Night,” he yawned, not even trying to fight her when she took his daughter from him.

“Then go hide in mine and Bobby’s room,” the young woman told him. “At least a catch a nap, if you’re not in the mood for breakfast.”

“Ya sure about that?” Ash asked, even though he could barely hold his eyes open.

“Kid, I’ll drag ya in there and tie ya down myself, if I have to,” the Silver Fox warned him. “I think the two of us and Aidan can handle three babies without anyone dying.”

“And I’m willing to pitch in, too,” his older daughter agreed.

“Then get me up in three or four hours so I don’t miss the celebration entirely, or I’ma wind up getting hurt by Aerin,” he chuckled, turning for the master suite.

Said young woman simply smirked and snapped her dish towel across his rump, which made him laugh at the same Time his former band mates’ eyes widened in surprise.

“Jeez, girl–cut it out!” the younger bassist said.

“Then git, or I’ll do worse–like bust out Karma or Kindness!” Aerin laughed. “’Cuz you’re not ruining _my_ Sabbat celebration by being a grumpy-puss!”

Ash merely stuck his tongue out at her as he disappeared behind her bedroom door, much to everyone else’s amusement. Even the lone drummer that was currently here’d figured out that she was a _take-no-shit_ kinda girl, and that she’d give him a run for his money. But if she and his own wife could manage to tone him down from the wild party-boy they’d known, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

CC couldn’t help practically singing his praisesta the chef, which included his friend since he’d pitched in to help as much as he could. Neither of them’d ever had much of what the young woman was planning on serving throughout the Day, and if they _had_ –well, it hadn’t been done quite like this. They certainly hadn’t ever had something like these spice cakes, which they said they’d kill to have the recipe for. As far as they were concerned, these things were better than any kinda pancake or waffle they’d ever added to any kinda breakfast platter before, and they’d certainly enjoy getting to do it again.

While they were helping her clean up, she said that she’d think about giving them the recipe she’d used, as well as that for another dish that was pretty similar. Jinxx cocked a brow as he helped her husband take the dishes over to be loaded into the dishwasher, wondering just what she could mean. Laughing as she nabbed Zep for a quick diaper change, she explained that she’d various dishes she used for different Sabbats. Some overlapped with the Sabbat previous, or the Sabbat that came next, while others didn’t overlap in the slightest.

Fastening her son’s fresh diaper, Aerin said that she’d a recipe for honey cakes that she used during this Sabbat’s polar opposite, _Ostara_. Honey was a prevalent staple during the Springtime, which was why she tended to go with dishes that could be considered Light and Airy in comparison to today’s fare. But she didn’t give away her recipes any easier than Bobby gave away his without some serious sweet-talking, which was why she said she’d have to think about it. Said husband merely smirked as he admitted that they were both stubborn like that, that it’d taken him monthsta get her to show him how to make her mother’s linguine. Neither could help their stubborn streaks, though, despite those stubborn streaks stemming from different sources, even though most of it was their Ancestry.

Once she’d gone to wake Ash around Noon, they couldn’t really deny that they were all having fun celebrating the _Witches’ Thanksgiving_ together. Jinxx and CC didn’t bother breathing a word about their Past with him, both just thankful that they hadn’t gotten themselves killed by coming out East to track him down. Seeing him so happy with the family he’d built out here–even if said family included a few unexpected faces–made them even happier. If nothing else, they could go back home and tell not only Jake, but their significant others that they’d been able to make contact and see out the End of their mission. That was definitely a couple thingsta be thankful for, no matter what Time of Year they were giving thanks during.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really short chapter, I know, but I'm hoping to be able to crank out more longer chapters in the near Future before I finally wrap things up here... Maybe _Rock of Love_ will help gimme some Inspiration, maybe it won't–we'll just have to wait and see.  
> ~Firefly


	51. Fifty

_June, 2023_

_Nashville, Tennessee_

For the first Time in his Life, Rob actually _wasn’t_ looking forward to a tour with his band, even though it was one of his favorite things about being a rock star. He’d never deny that he loved the Travel aspect, or getting out on a stage to play his very heart out, ’cuz he’d be lying, if he did. But this was the first Time he’d be hitting the road after what he considered a near-Death experience, not to mention since his handfasting and becoming a daddy again.

There was a part of him that honestly _didn’t_ wanna go this Time around, but at the same Time, this was what he’d lived his Life for and devoted it to since he was a teenager. He’d dropped outta high school and passed up going to law school to pursue his Dream in the Music industry, and he wasn’t giving up easily. Whether he missed his family while he was gone or not was irrelevant, ’cuz it was far from the first Time he’d been through this part. It’d just been quite a while since he’d to leave his babies as–well, babies so he could hit the road and come back to them in one piece.

Zep and Zeph hadn’t exactly been happy when he’d left to start rehearsals in Los Angeles back in early-May, the same Time of Year he’d left before kicking off the _Stadium Tour_. Both babies’d pitched an utter bitch-fit when Aerin’d dropped him off at the airport, and he’d known it was gonna take a while to Calm them down. Hearing his voice every Time he called home after a long Day of rehearsing seemed to appease them, though.

Making the choiceta ditch his band–not to mention the others on this Year’s roster–the Silver Fox’d headed back home on May thirty-first. He wasn’t about to miss his babies’ first birthday, which fell on June second, no matter what the rest of the roster said. Naturally, that meant that he refused to listen when they insisted that he couldn’t skip out on rehearsals, ’cuz there were a few kinksta work out still. After all the Years he’d been doing this, he knew there’d be kinks that needed to be worked out till the Night they killed off the tour come September. It was just something that came with the territory, no matter how they tried to avoid such things–Gods knew that if somebody didn’t wind up in the hospital sooner or later, they could call it a good, if not outstanding tour.

But now, it was what he was referring to as the _kick-off Night_ for what could very well be Poison’s final tour, like it or not. It seemed like they were all going in different Directions with their Lives–many of them’d young children to worry about, or some other reason to stay home. There were just too many things that kept them from being able to truly pour their hearts and Souls into this band the way they’d done thirty or forty Years ago, and they were all getting older. None of them really had any Time to waste on ridiculous shit–that much’d been proven by Rikki’s battle with cancer going on a decade ago. Even if all this tour did was prove that he could still do this, if he wanted to, he’d call it a win once it was all done and over with.

“Ready to hit that stage, man?”

Rolling his shoulders, Rob managed to nod as he locked eyes with Bret. “Kinda Wish Aerin and the kids were here for this show, even if they didn’t get to see any of the others, though.”

“Being in Tenn prolly just makes ya Wish for that even more,” he said, gently squeezing his shoulder.

“Yeah, even though we’re still a few hours from home, it does,” the Silver Fox agreed.

“What–getting homesick on us already, dude?”

Glancing over, there was a part of him that wasn’t surprised to see the other half of his band joining them, now that they’d emerged from their own dressing rooms.

“Ah, I wouldn’t say homesick necessarily,” Rob chuckled. “Just missing my babies and Lady Love prolly a lil more than I should for the very Beginning of a tour.”

“Even after ya ditched rehearsals a few weeks ago and stayed home till yesterday?” CC asked, his grin belying any malice.

“Hey, I toldja I wasn’t missing my babies’ first birthday!” he laughed. “Constantly calling me was what made me _stay_ home till then.”

“Well, you’re not the only one missing someone,” Rikki told him with a grin of his own.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah–I know you’re all missing your own kids and sweethearts, too,” the Silver Fox said.

“Not what I meant, but yeah–I don’t think any of us’d deny it,” he chuckled.

Their Melody section simply nodded, not even bothering to murmur their agreement with either of the previous statements. But what he didn’t realize was that in keeping his attention focused on them, they were aiding the drummer in giving him one helluva surprise. Well, a helluva surprise that didn’t manage to outdo finding out he wasta be a daddy again, but certainly ranked right up there with it.

A pair of all-too-familiar squeals startled him even before something managed to collide with both his legs and wrap around them like lil Monkeys. Looking down as he flipped his bass over his shoulder, Rob couldn’t help the grin that split his face when he saw the pair of faces grinning up at him. He also couldn’t help the laugh he let out as he managed to convince the owners of those lil facesta let go so he could kneel down, gladly wrapping his arms around their lil bodies. The lil bodies he held against his own let out more squeals as they wrapped their own arms around his neck, especially when he rose back to his full height.

“Chu lil boogers!” he chuckled, snuggling Zep and Zeph.

“Da-da-da-da!” they babbled, all too happy to snuggle against him even more.

“I know there’s a mama around here somewhere,” the Silver Fox said, a smirk curving his lips. “’Cuz I know she’s not just gonna turn mah lil wild children loose like this without being close by.”

_“Mmm,_ good thing you’re right about that, _bello marito mio.”_

Hearing the one voice he loved above all others, Rob turned before she could ever manage to spook him, which was no doubt her Intent, and his smirk only turned into a grin.

“What can I say? I’d to see my man off properly,” the young woman chuckled as he leaned down.

“Definitely a proper send-off for your bat-crap crazy husband,” he laughed, all too happy to give in when she cupped his cheeks and pulled him down further.

“Behave yourselves,” Bret said. “We’ve five till we’re on, so no Time for pre-show antics like a couple Years ago.”

The Silver Fox simply flipped him off, which was no easy feat when his hands were already full with supporting two lil rumps. “Took care of _that_ last Night, jerk.”

“Definitely had ourselves _nothin’ but a good Time,”_ Aerin chuckled. “Didn’t we set off the Fire alarms a couple Times from how hot we got, too?”

“Ya know, now that I think about it…” Rob laughed as he dodged his band mates when they mocked smacking him in the back of the head. “Not when I’m holding boogers, ya jerks!”

“Then don’t be broadcasting the act that _made_ said boogers!” CC shot back with a laugh of his own.

“It’s great thatcha love your wife, dude, but seriously–we don’t want _or_ need to know those kinda things,” the drummer agreed.

Rolling his eyes, he simply let said wife steal another kiss before she took their lil boogers, who whined unhappily since they wanted to stay with him. Zep and Zeph both’d missed him once he left for rehearsals, and it seemed that his Returning for their birthday, then staying till the Night previous’d just spoiled them. But a few soft words convinced them to go back to their mama and behave so they could enjoy some good Music with the rest of the crowd that was chanting and screaming.

Once Aerin was thoroughly distracted with their babies and they’d moved outta earshot, the Silver Fox couldn’t resist the grin he shot at his band mates. Even Bret could tell he was up to something before any of them could even take a breath to ask, and they certainly weren’t disappointed. None of them were surprised when he suggested having a repeat of their Nashville show from a couple Years ago, not like they’d been when he’d called her out to join them mid-show. Thinking back on how well that show’d gone–after all, it’d led to her joining the remainder of that tour–they were all quick to agree that she oughta join them again. After all, she’d proven to have a killer voice, and it was obvious that she enjoyed showing it off, even when she denied it.

Quick to snag their Sound guy, Rob told him to get his older kidsta help with parting mama from babies, if that was what it took. They were opening with _Talk Dirty to Me_ this Time around, and he’d managed to convince the guysta bring back a few numbers they hadn’t done live in Years. But just like when they were on the _Stadium Tour_ a couple Years ago, the song he wanted her to join them for was fifth in the setlist.

“I’ll have her ready by then, even if I’ve to drag her off by her hair,” Jack promised with a chuckle.

“If there’s only one piece of advice I beg ya to heed, it’s to _not_ touch her hair,” the Silver Fox laughed. “’Cuz I’m not gonna stop her from raping ya with Rikki’s sticks, if ya do that.”

“Dude, leave my gear outta it!” he said with a laugh of his own as he gently socked his shoulder.

“Tell that to my she-devil of a wife,” Rob retorted. “’Cuz I know what she’s gonna go after as a weapon!”

“Too much Respect for the guitarsta turn them into baseball bats, huh?” the vocalist asked.

“She might not’ve been _much_ of a guitarist when we first met, but she definitely is now,” he told him. “But even when she could barely play for shit, she’d the utmost Respect for instruments, especially guitars.”

“So, what makes my drumsticks any different?” Rikki asked, arms crossed as he held said sticks in one big fist.

“Easier to replace, if they get Destroyed–or covered in shit from raping someone with them,” Rob laughed.

Bret and CC both howled with laughter to the point of having to lean on each other.

“Ya know, when ya think about it like that…” He shook his head, but he couldn’t help a smirk. “If I gotta choose between just replacing sticks, or replacing my entire kit, I’m going with the sticks.”

“Well, as long as he doesn’t mess with _la mia Musica Strega’s_ hair, we won’t have to replace even those,” the Silver Fox said. “And I won’t have to put up with her in the middle of another migraine for even an hour or two.”

Nodding, Jack swore he’d just drag her off by her belt loops instead of her hair, if that’s what it took to get her into their dressing room. After all, if there was any need for her to shed so much as a T-shirt to get her wired up properly, it was better done in private so there wouldn’t be any unnecessary staring. In addition, they’d actually be able to hear each other over the Music since they’d upgraded their gear this Time around, and he’d have to explain a few of the new Sound pack’s featuresta her.

Turning his attention to the show, Rob watched as the drummer got his cue first and ran out to hop up on his riser with a heel-click like he was twenty-something again. CC was the next to get his cue, a grin splitting his face as he sawed out a mini-solo at the same Time he took his place at front-left. Next up was the one who’d always been considered the Mysterious one outta the group, and he wore an identical grin as he ran out with a mini solo of his own. Once he was stationed across from their guitarist at front-right, it was mere seconds before their final band mate joined them to the tune of more cheers and applause.

But even as Bret was getting the crowd even more riled-up, he couldn’t help the slight jittery feeling he always got at this point in a tour. The first show was always the hardest, the last being a very close runner-up in his book, ’cuz it always took a while to get back into the swing of things. Knowing that all four of his kids were backstage to enjoy some awesome Music–and no doubt their fair share of fuck-ups–helped with that, though.


	52. Fifty-One

Aerin was more than a lil surprised when Poison’s Sound tech, Jack–the same guy as last tour a couple Years ago–approached and held out his hands. Her babies looked more than a lil wary of him, but eventually grabbed his fingers with their lil hands like they did to her, their daddy, and their older siblings. But that wasn’t what surprised her the most–what surprised her even more was when he convinced them to let said older siblings hold them, ’cuz he needed to borrow Mama for a few minutes.

She started to get an idea of what was going on, though, when he pressed a gentle hand between her shoulder blades and steered her toward Rob’s dressing room. It was almost a repeat of the band’s Nashville show during the _Stadium Tour,_ but the difference was that _she_ was the one being surprised. Whether this was a spur-of-the-moment idea on her husband’s part or something that’d been planned from the Time he’d left for rehearsals, it was apparent to her that the band knew this Time around. But despite it being a helluva surprise for her, that didn’t mean she was incapable of rolling with the punches and making the best of being put on the spot by her man–she’d just make sure she got him back for it later.

Once he’d gotten the wires for her in-ears run up her back after helping her into the same corset as she’d worn on the last tour, Jack’d some shit to explain to her. Apparently, they’d decided to upgrade their gear this Time around, so the Sound pack she was using was a bit different from the one she’d used before. He’d to show her where to find shit like the power switch before she accidentally screwed the guys up mid-song.

Feeling confident that she wasn’t gonna do any such thing, the young woman let him escort her to the backstage area she’d been in before. That was where she got yet another surprise, and she knew damn good and well this one _wasn’t_ planned by her husband as his personal tech was flagged over. But rather than completely ignoring the faces she recognized, but hadn’t actually met, she at least nodded to show that she was aware of their presence. She’d some pretty big Fish to fry since she hadn’t played _Something to Believe In_ in a while and wanted to run through it before she went on. However, that was apparently the wrong way to handle this pair–not that she was really surprised by that–and they were immediately on the Warpath.

“Ya know, ya could at least _speak_ to a person when they greetcha,” the blonde who was no doubt taller than even her husband–mostly due to her stripper stilettos–snapped.

“Seriously, ’cuz how were _we_ supposed to know who ya were nodding at?” the crazy-eyed redhead that obviously dyed her hair that ridiculous shade agreed.

“Maybe by the fact that I made eye contact when I did, _ladies,”_ Aerin growled. “And if ya thought I was making eye contact with anyone else, then ya clearly need your own eyes checked.”

“Why, you–”

She wasn’t surprised when the blonde–whom she knew was Heather–acted like she was gonna lunge.

“Feelin’ froggy, blondie? Then go ahead and jump,” the young woman said. “I’d suggest being ready to get wet and have all that Aqua Net dripping into the Pond thatcha jump into.”

A pair of outraged screeches followed her words, but Aerin wasn’t the slightest bit afraid of these two since she already knew quite a bit about them. Then again, even if she _had_ been scared of them, she wouldn’t have shown it–the only things she openly showed that she was scared of were Snakes and going anywhere near a plane. Only her closest friends and family knew those things about her, though, and she wasn’t about to back down from these two and their obvious intimidation tactic.

She managed to get a couple good swings in when they decided to take one of their own at her, but the Cat-fight was quickly broken up. While the band’s head of security, Big John grabbed the Heather and hauled her back, Zach wrapped his arms around the redhead. Ash was quick to grab the shortest, wiliest woman and restrain her, even though he didn’t quite think it was necessary.

“Ladies, knock it off,” Big John snapped.

“Better listen to him, or you’re gonna wind up with those stilettos stabbed through your skulls,” the younger bassist drawled.

“Yeah, right!” the redhead–whose name was Lacey–retorted.

“I seriously wouldn’t push the buttons of a girl who likesta stab things and owns Swords,” Zach warned her. “Especially not one who also packs a punch as hard as Dad and the others can, despite being so much smaller.”

Both the catty bitches looked like they wanted to argue the point, but were quickly cut off.

“Go run through it, girl,” Ash said, gently sending her over toward the stage with a pat to the rump. “You’ve two songs left before they’re calling ya out there, and I doubt you’re gonna want a bunch of bruises under all those Lights where they’re gonna be plainly obvious.”

“Not unless they’re in the form of hickies from my man, damn it,” she grumbled. “Course, I don’t wanna fight _anyone_ in front of my babies, either.”

Heather’s and Lacey’s jaws dropped as she turned her attention toward the young woman they knew was Bobby’s daughter, who held a pair of toddlers they’d thought actually belonged to her.

_“Shhhh, shhhh, shhhh,”_ the young woman hissed as she caressed their chubby lil cheeks. _“Mammina ti amo molto, bambino e bambina.”_

“Ma-ma-ma-ma,” they babbled, sniffling as they reached for her.

“Chu’s gon’ stay wiff Bubba and Sisseh for a few minutes, otays?” Aerin said. “Mama’s comin’ back, but I’ma go make some purdy Music wiff Daddy and chu uncles.”

The babies that were obviously twins looked toward the stage, babbling _Da-da-da-da!_ as they did.

“Yesh, dat’s right–Mama’s gon’ go join Daddy and chu uncles for a few minutes,” she chuckled. “But Mama comin’ back after dat.”

Even Big John–who was a notorious hard-ass due to his job–couldn’t help a smile as Zep and Zeph let out squeals and clapped, then wrapped their arms around her neck. They were still a bit reluctant, but let their older siblings take them so their mother could turn to the next man that walked up to her. Now she was definitely ignoring the catty pair that she knew to be conniving and manipulative as she took the bass she was handed, rolling her eyes as she was forced to shorten the strap attached to it.

Ash laughed as he moved to help her, partially so she wouldn’t break any of the wiring running up her back by getting it caught under said strap the wrong way. Once the strap was shortened so Rob’s bass wasn’t practically kissing her knees, he turned her looseta go run through the song he knew as well as she did they wanted her to join them for. It wouldn’t be long before Time for her to have a quick run-through was gonna be up and then some, and she really didn’t wanna fuck up while onstage. Luckily, she was able to run through the riff before the band rounded out _Ride the Wind,_ which she knew was her cue to head for the curtain.

“All right, all right–Time to bring it back down to Earth now!”

Rob couldn’t help a chuckle as he snatched the Water bottle off his amp stack, knowing there was no way his beautiful wife hadn’t been prepared by now. He knew that Jack was quick and efficient when it came to getting someone wired up properly, and his personal tech–Ryan–no doubt woulda been waiting within earshot with one of his basses ready to go. Looking over toward the curtain that led backstage, he certainly hoped they weren’t about to make asses of themselves, ’cuz he really didn’t know how he’d handle that.

“There might be a few folks here tonight who’ve a bit of a flashback,” Bret chuckled.

“But help us give a warm welcome to a face that doesn’t often appear with us–at least, not publicly!” Rikki laughed from his riser.

The Silver Fox couldn’t help his grin as he handed off the bass he’d used for the first four songsta Ryan, a different part of the curtain shifting.

“How y’all doing tonight, Nashville?” Aerin asked with a grin of her own.

Cheers and applause answered her.

“Sounds awesome!” she laughed. “Now, I dunno ’bout the boys, but I’ve been having a few doubts lately…”

Rob knew damn good and well that wasn’t actually true, but he still played along with it as he settled behind his keyboard.

“Y’all help me out here, and gimme _somethin’ to believe in!”_ the young woman yelled into what’d normally be his mic.

He couldn’t help the slight smile that curved his lips as he let that be his cue, his fingers starting to dance across the keys like they’d done for nearly a quarter of a Century. Unlike last Time, Aerin remained right where she was in front of his mic stand, which she was forced to lower quite a bit since she was so much shorter than him. But even as he worked his way through that beautiful intro riff, he felt more eyes on him than he thought was normal, even for the middle of a concert. It seemed like he was having holes bored into his back or something, but there wasn’t really Time to think about it, especially if he didn’t wanna fuck up mid-song.

Twenty seconds into the song, Bret and the young woman kicked up their co-lead vocals like they’d done this Time two Years ago, give or take a week or two. Just like last Time, she was able to add a completely different dynamic to such a heartfelt and Emotional song that made it sound better than it ever had before. Slight smiles were brought to the rest of the band’s and even the crowd’s faces as the rest of the Music kicked up about thirty seconds later, tears welling up in more than a few eyes.

She paid no attention to feeling Heather and Lacey boring holes into her back from backstage as she sang in tandem with the front man, her hands somewhat moving on autopilot as she picked out her husband’s bass riff. One thing she knew about the latter of that pair was that she’d supposedly been in a touring band–at least, that was her claim roughly fifteen Years ago. No doubt she wouldn’t want anyone showing her up in the slightest, but that wasn’t the point here, and she damn well knew it. The young woman was well aware of her abilities, and the point was that the guys all liked what she could bring to their table when she felt like it. It was for that reason that she gladly joined them onstage when they asked her to, and not for any others suggested.

Letting her head hang so her hat blocked the stage Lights and allowed her to see better as they let their last notes ring out, Aerin took a deep breath to get herself back together. She knew damn good and well her Silver Fox was proud of her, and it was proven by the grin he shot her as she turned to face him. It was even said by the kiss he didn’t let being onstage stop him from giving her, unlike the last Time he’d been on tour.

“Give it up for Rebel!” Bret yelled into his mic.

More cheers and applause roared throughout the venue as she joined them for a bow.

“Now, y’all enjoy what our resident Mad Hatter’s cooked up for ya!” he laughed, dodging as CC threw an empty Water bottle at him. “We’ll be back shortly!”

Rob gladly wrapped his arm around his wife’s shoulders and jerked her against his side, which made her squeal and laugh.

“You’re a lil too wound up for your own good, aren’tcha?” she asked, gladly following him backstage.

“That a bad thing, sweetheart?” the Silver Fox countered.

“Behave, ya randy devil!” Aerin warned him. “’Cuz while I’m sure Ash wouldn’t mind filling in, I don’t think he actually wantsta.”

“Yeah, no–not really,” the younger bassist chuckled as they got to the backstage area. “I think I’d rather help babysit the munchkins than take their daddy’s place.”

Zep and Zeph both squealed and reached out to him the second they realized he’d come offstage. _“Da-da-da-da!”_

“Yesh, ish Daddy,” he chuckled, gladly taking them from their siblings.

He ignored Bret greeting the other two women who were backstage as he snuggled his younger children, who both reared back only seconds after burying their faces against him. Rob laughed just as hard as everybody except that other pair of chicks, knowing they hadn’t been expecting him to be sweaty and smelly. Course, they’d never been brought to a concert–not even backstage–since they’d only recently turned a Year old, so it wasn’t like they’d known what such an event entailed.

Once he’d handed the twins back to their siblings so he could wipe at least part of the sweat off and grab a cold Water bottle, the Silver Fox wrapped an arm around his wife. The vocalist introduced the other pair to the rest of the group, and he was both surprised and not to find out that they’d once been on the first season of _Rock of Love_. He’d thought they looked a bit familiar, but he hadn’t been able to place them since it’d been quite a while since he’d bothered watching that particular show. But there was something about them that rubbed him wrong from the very second he laid eyes on them, which just made him pull Aerin against his side again.

The way Heather’s and Lacey’s eyes bugged out when he did that threw up a red flag for him right off the bat, and he cocked a brow at the others he knew well. Ash’s expression as he snuggled his own daughter was nothing short of bemused as he cut a sidelong look at the other pair. He knew that whatever he was about to be told wasn’t gonna be to his liking, but at least his younger equivalent wouldn’t lie to him.

“I know Aerin’s more than capable of taking care of herself, but let’s just say I kinda wanna go back on my own upbringing and clean a couple clocks right now,” he said.

“Just give it to me straight, Ash,” Rob groaned.

“Ya know how Aerin is–usually won’t speak unless spoken to, especially if she’s on a Time crunch,” the younger bassist told him. “So, you’d think at least nodding to acknowledge someone’s presence’d be good enough under those circumstances.”

“Yeah, it should be,” he agreed. “Not everybody’s a social Butterfly right off the bat, but at least a nod says that one’s aware of another presence and not necessarily _trying_ to be rude.”

“Tell that to those two, then,” Ash dead-panned. “’Cuz while there’s a part of me that Wishes you and Bret coulda seen the Cat-fight Big John, Zach, and I’d to break up, there’s another part that’s gladja _didn’t_ see it.”

_“What!?”_ The Silver Fox’s jaw dropped as his own eyes widened before he turned a dirty look on the other pair.

“Girls, tell us straight and true,” Bret demanded. “’Cuz I’ve thought of y’all as some good friends of mine for a long Time, and I’d hate to think you’d actually go after the loved one of _another_ good friend of mine who’s been such for longer than that.”

Neither woman spoke up, but rather looked down at their feet.

“Lay another hand on my wife, and I’ll be more than glad to forget my own upbringing so I can clean your clocks, myself,” Rob growled.

Heather and Lacey both looked shocked to hear him say that, but even more so when their friend didn’t try to defend them in the slightest.

“My wife’s a tough cookie and she can more than take care of herself, but I’m not letting her take on two catty women at once and wind up seriously hurt,” he told them. “I’ll kick your asses, myself versus have to babysit her while she’s doped up as a result of y’all quite literally jumping her.”

Not even Rikki tried to intervene as he wrapped both arms around his chosen woman protectively.

“And Gods fuckin’ help ya, if ya drag _any_ of my kids into it, especially the babies,” the Silver Fox concluded. “’Cuz while I’m protective as hell over my wife, I’ll fuckin’ annihilatecha, if ya hurt my babies.”

Sweeping Aerin up into his arms, he said he was spending his too-short break during CC’s solo with said wife. If he didn’t get away from these two, now that he knew a fight’d to be broken up while his back was turned, he was gonna wind up saying and/or doing something he’d live to regret. Whether that regret was brought on by his own Guilt or ’cuz the woman currently in his arms made him regret it, he wasn’t too sure, but he knew he’d regret it eventually, either way.

Bret simply turned a disappointed look on his friends and said that he’d deal with them later, ’cuz he simply didn’t have the Time to right now. What he really needed to do was check his sugar and make sure he was level enough to hit the stage again, or he was gonna be in some serious trouble. He also knew that stressing over their backstage Cat-fight’d only add to that trouble, ’cuz that’d make his sugar go crazy, if it wasn’t already.

Heather and Lacey seemed more than appropriately abashed, now that even their friend had shown his disappointment in them. Now they were feeling kinda bad, but at the same Time, they seemed like they were starting to plot something between them. Clearly seeing right through them, the younger bassist quietly excused himself after handing his own daughter back to her mother. With a quick kiss and a few soft words in Aidan’s ear, he headed off to go find the half of the band that’d taken off for their dressing rooms. Both needed a quick heads-up that some kinda trouble was on the horizon so they could head it off before it got worse.


	53. Fifty-Two

Rob was more than a lil annoyed when somebody knocked on his dressing room door, considering he’d specifically said that he wanted to enjoy some alone Time with his wife while he could. Granted, opening said door to see Bret and Ash standing there was more than a bit of a surprise, but he didn’t bother trying to deny them entry. Whether he was already sick of seeing his band mate or not, he knew damn good and well that his younger equivalent’s presence was no mistake.

Once the door was closed and locked again, he settled next to his wife while the other pair settled across from them. He’d a bad feeling that whatever’d caused them to interrupt what lil Time he could spend with Aerin right now wasn’t gonna be to his liking. Something told him that this interruption somehow involved the pair introduced to everyone as Heather and Lacey, whom he already didn’t like.

“Figured it was best to get all three of y’all together for this,” Ash finally spoke up.

“Oh, fuck me–what now?” the Silver Fox groaned.

“I’m not too sure _what_ they’re up to, but that Heather and Lacey chick’re already plotting something,” he told them.

“What makes ya think that?” Bret asked. “I mean, I know I’m biased since I’ve known both of them for Years now, but I wanna hear your honest Thoughts.”

“Aerin’s taught me a lot about reading a person’s eyes and body language,” the younger bassist answered. “Their body language and what I saw in their eyes _scream_ that they’re up to no good–and I don’t mean the kinda no good that leadsta some good Times backstage, if ya catch my drift.”

“Oh, I think we both catch it, man,” Rob said. “Ya got any ideas on what they could be cooking up?”

“Well, if I’ve to go with my gut…” Ash bit his lip thoughtfully for a minute. “My gut says they’re either gonna try to start another Cat-fight outta Jealousy, or they’re gonna get more devious by trying to put doubts about your marriage into your head.”

“Either way, it’s definitely not gonna be a pretty Ending,” the vocalist mused, shaking his head as if to clear it.

Before they could say another word, the young woman was rising from where she’d been sitting quietly and was gently forcing him to look up at her. Feeling so secure in his marriage that not even her cupping one of his best friend’s cheeks like that could make him falter, the Silver Fox wasn’t about to let a couple catty bitches get under his skin. Acting as a sorta _mother Hen_ to not just himself, but his assorted friends and family was typical of her, and it was one of the many things he loved about her. It just cemented the fact that she’d quite the kind, caring heart, which was exactly the thing he hadn’t really known he’d been looking for for so long.

Taking a look deep into his eyes, Aerin didn’t even have to ask the blonde how he was feeling, ’cuz she’d seen this dazed look in his eyes a few too many Times in the last couple Years. His sugar was nowhere near high enough to send him back out onstage just yet, if they didn’t want him possibly having an accidental crowd-surfing incident.

Looking over at Ash, she told him to go grab the medic just to play it safe, ’cuz she wasn’t too sure that a simple glucose tablet and a snack was gonna work this Time. Naturally, he jumped up and took off without bothering to argue, if only ’cuz he’d borne witnessta Bret’s sugar dropping too low a couple Times. It hadn’t dropped low enough to make him pass out or otherwise result in him being hospitalized, but it’d still been serious enough to scare the Daylights outta just about anyone who wasn’t used to it.

“Hey, look at me, bud,” Rob said. Having knelt down in front of him, he gently tapped his cheek to get as much of his attention as he could.

“Don’t feel good,” he veritably mumbled, clearly struggling to keep his eyes open at this point.

_“How_ don’tcha feel good?” the Silver Fox asked. He knew that the more he could keep him talking, the better off they’d be.

“Tired…dizzy,” Bret managed. “Starving…fuckin’ mouth’s dry.”

“Here, man.” His wife unscrewed the lid from a fresh Water bottle. “Slow, small sips.”

_“Hmm…mmm…”_ The vocalist managed to let her help him take a couple sips, the chill seeming to shock him into a state that was a hair more alert.

“You’re _definitely_ not going back out there for at least two more songs, big boy,” Aerin told him. “I’ll go out there and cover your six, myself before I letcha keel over.”

“Just two, though?” he asked, finally looking a lil more clear-eyed as he looked up at them.

“As long as the medic can get your sugar back up by the Time we kill off that second number,” Rob promised him. “If we can’t get it up high enough by then, we might have to call it quits early.”

“Don’tcha even dare, if she’s willing to cover me, asshole,” the vocalist said, starting to slur again as Ash finally Returned with the medic.

“Get him set up with some form of glucose,” the young woman said. “He’ll wind up in the hospital within the hour, if ya don’t.”

“Ya sure his sugar’s actually too low?” A cocked brow accompanied that question.

“Seen him act like this too many Times for his own good,” the Silver Fox answered. “He’s well on his way to crashing, and hard.”

“Ash and I’ll handle helping the medic get him settled,” his wife told him. “Just grab me one of your itineraries so I know what the setlist’s supposed to be tonight.”

Laughing, he told her that he didn’t need to grab one, ’cuz he actually seemed to have the best memory outta the entire band. The next two songs in their setlist were actually a couple of her favorites– _Back to the Rocking Horse_ from their sophomore album, and _Let it Play_ from its follow-up. After that, they were supposed to be ripping into their cover of the Loggins and Messina song, _Your Mama Don’t Dance,_ before they came backstage for Rikki to have his few minutes of solo fame.

Since Aerin knew all three of those songs, she looked down at Bret–who was now sporting an IV–and told him there was gonna be a Change of plans. At first, they’d agreed on her covering him for just two songs, but if they were only doing three before another band member got a solo, she figured she might as well cover him for all three. That’d give him a few extra minutesta get his sugar up and his head back on straight and in the game, which couldn’t possibly hurt him. Luckily, the sugar drip he’d been put on seemed to’ve brought his sugar up just enough for him to comprehend what she was telling him. Not only that, but he didn’t consider her a threat in the slightest–he knew she was just looking out for him, which he greatly appreciated.

Aidan was called in to help the medic keep an eye on him since she was generally better at playing the _mother Hen_ role than her husband was. Said husband headed to the main backstage area so he could help Zach and Zoe wrangle the trio of toddlers, who were starting to get antsy. Naturally, Heather and Lacey were pissed that they weren’t being allowed to see their friend, but none of this lil group cared.

Rob made it quite clear that it was _his_ dressing room, and he didn’t want the two of them in there to even take shelter from a freak Twister touching down. They’d get to see the blonde once he was feeling well enough to come back out, but till then, he’d better not find out they’d been in the closest thing he was getting to private Space till the tour Ended. He wasn’t in the mood to argue with anyone, not after finding out his wife’d been caught up in a Cat-fight and was now having to fill in for his best friend. And the last thing he wanted wasta let these two piss him off even worse than he was already starting to get just from those two things.

“So, the three songs, and we’ll see how Bret’s doing during my solo?” Rikki asked.

“That’s the plan for now, yeah,” he answered, nodding.

“What’s wrong with Bret?” CC asked as he took a couple minutesta grab a Water bottle and mop off some of the sweat.

“Insulin shock again,” the Silver Fox sighed. “Aerin’s gonna fill in for him on a few numbers, and we’ll see how he’s doing by the Time we come back to let Rikki do _his_ solo before we decide whether to kill the show early or not.”

“Why does _she_ get to go on in his place?” Heather snapped.

“Seriously.” Lacey crossed her arms and cocked a hip. “I’m the one who’s actually been in a band before.”

“Put a dick in it, girl,” Rob snapped in Return. “’Cuz the Day you can sound identical to Bret, then either shoot up insanely high or drop down as low as me and still sing a killer Harmony line either way, I’ll letcha storm the stage with us.”

Both their jaws dropped in shock, the other half of his band, his older kids, and Ash all snickering.

“I’ve heard my wife do all that and so much more, so I know what she’s capable of,” he told them. “Besides, I doubt either of ya know two of the upcoming songs, whereas I know for a fact _she_ knows both of them.”

“They a couple of my favorites, after all,” Aerin said, shrugging. “Besides, unlike when he wanted me to join them for _Something to Believe In,_ Rob didn’t ask me to–I offered. There’s a big difference there.”

“Got a point there,” the guitarist agreed. “And considering what I’ve heard outta ya myself, there’s no one I’d rather have replace Bret for even a single song, let alone possibly half the show.”

“Here, here.” Their drummer mocked toasting her. “Sorry, Lacey, butcha just don’t have the right Sound, especially for these next few songs.”

That seemed to really piss off the redhead, but none of them cared.

“Let’s get back to it,” the Silver Fox said. “Ash’ll give us some kinda signal, if Aidan comes out and tells him we’re gonna have to kill the show early.”

Nodding, his younger equivalent promised that he’d do just that, even if it meant killing someone’s amp from backstage to get their attention. He hoped he wouldn’t have to resort to that kinda tactic for any reason, but it’d certainly be an attention-grabber, if they suddenly lost their guitar or bass riff. To be quite honest, he’d prolly kill his equivalent’s rig, considering the fiasco they’d once had with CC accidentally unplugging his guitar mid-show that’d resulted in him getting fired. At least that shit wouldn’t get brought up again before they could cover themselves by saying that a fuse’d blown or something.

Running back out behind Rikki and CC, he agreed to that being a good enough signal to him so they could get this show back on track. Given that he’d always been considered such, he let the drummer take the lead on riling the crowd up as the band’s secondary leader. It wasn’t that he _couldn’t_ do such a thing himself, or that CC couldn’t, either–they just weren’t quite as good at it as the drummer and vocalist were.

Despite the shit going on backstage that was on all their minds, the tallest blonde got the crowd riled up and assured them that Bret’d be just fine. Since he needed a few extra minutes backstage, he wanted them to give another warm welcome to one of their good friends, who’d graciously offered themselves up as a bit of a sacrifice. Aerin couldn’t help the grin on her face as she ran back out to join them again, this Time lowering the vocalist’s mic stand to her level.

“Who wantsta join me in some simpler Times, y’all?” she asked.

Much like when she’d taken the reins earlier, cheers and applause galore answered her.

“Hit it, Rik!” the young woman yelled with a sweep of her arm.

Without missing a beat, Rikki launched into his first beats, a wide grin on his face.

_“Like this…”_

Rob and CC both took their cues after those two words, moving so they stood back-to-back as they sawed out their intro riffs.

_“All the King’s Horses…and all the King’s men…ain’t got a Hope in Hell…of puttin’ my pieces back together again…”_ Aerin sang, never once missing a beat, herself. _“I’ve seen things in my Life that should never be seen_ – _I’m talkin’ things that make a-your skin crawl… I just wanna go back to a simpler Time, where nothin’ really mattered at all, no!”_

The Silver Fox couldn’t help his continued grin any more than the guitarist could as both moved back to their mics. Her ability to sound identical to Bret on a lotta their songs was absolutely uncanny, but it never failed to amaze him–and even the rest of his band. Not many people’d that kinda talent, and those who didn’t would kill to be able to say they did, but she was certainly one who certainly could say that.

_“See, I_ – _I can’t sleep all Night long… Tossin’ and a-turnin’, Thoughts keep a-churnin’… I can’t sleep all Night long_ – _as a matter of fact, I just wanna g-g-g-get back…”_ she continued, the aforementioned pair joining her only for the lyric _all Night long_.

Both men who flanked her took another deep breath at the same Time she did, allowing them to dive right into the chorus.

_“…back to the rockin’ Horse, back to where it all Began! Take meh back_ – _back to the rockin’ Horse, and start all over again!”_ they sang in unison.

_“Get back!”_ the young woman sang, grinning as she followed up with a pelvic thrust that allowed her to grind on Bret’s mic stand to accompany the grunt she let out.

Rob couldn’t help laughing at his wife’s antics, even though he found that action an absolute turn-on.

_“Parents think I’m crazeh, and the doctor says I cracked_ – _but they don’t understand me, ’cuz I just wanna get back, yes…”_

Even CC couldn’t help a laugh at how she mimed losing her last marble–which she kinda _had_ by marrying his bassist, let alone having kids with him.

_“Ya see, I_ – _I can’t sleep all Night long… Tossin’ and a-turnin’, Thoughts keep a-churnin’… I can’t sleep all Night long_ – _as a matter of fact, I just wanna g-g-g-get back…”_

_“…back to the rockin’ Horse, back to where it all Began! Take meh back_ – _back to the rockin’ Horse, and start all over again!”_

_“One Time…”_ Aerin said before running down to touch hands with the crowd as CC launched into his solo.

Her husband was more than glad to cover the Wolf whistle roughly halfway through said solo, which just made her look back at him with a grin as she purposely bent over and smacked her own ass. Every guy in the crowd let out whistles of their own at that, which just made him cackle once he took a step back from his mic. This was part of the reason he’d fallen in Love with her–she knew damn good and well that even if she’d only qualify as a plus-size model, she was smokin’ hot. Granted, that didn’t stop her from having the occasional Self-conscious moment, but he couldn’t really say he was any different sometimes.

_“Well, the whole World thinks I’m crazeh, and the doctor says I cracked_ – _but they don’t understand me, no, ’cuz I just wanna go back…”_ she sang once she’d run back up to the mic stand she’d taken over for now.

_“Ya see, I_ – _I can’t sleep all Night long… Tossin’ and a-turnin’, Thoughts keep a-churnin’… I can’t sleep all Night long_ – _as a matter of fact, I just wanna g-g-g-get back…”_

_“…back to the rockin’ Horse, back to where it all Began! Take meh back_ – _back to the rockin’ Horse, and start all over again, yeah! Take meh back_ – _back to the rockin’ Horse, back to where it all Began… Take meh back_ – _back to the rockin’ Horse, and start all over again, babeh, like this!”_

The entire band laughed as the young woman easily let out the closing _scream_ –if it could be called that–before they rounded out the last fifteen seconds or so of the song with the outro.

“Give it up for Rebel!” the Silver Fox yelled into his mic once they’d muted their last note.

The crowd went absolutely bat-shit insane with cheers, applause, Wolf whistles, and Cat-calls as they all took a bow before grabbing their Water bottles. It’d been quite a while since they’d played this particular song live–if he recalled right, they’d actually cut it from their setlist after the _Open Up_ tour back in 1989. But it was such a high-Energy song that it’d pretty much always get a crowd riled up, which was their Intent when they’d decided to revisit it again.

Once they’d a few momentsta take a few sips from their bottles, Aerin simply stepped back up to the mic she’d appropriated. They didn’t really need Rikki to count them in for this one since it pretty much went by whoever was singing lead for the intro. As soon as she took a deep breath and sang _Wheeeen…,_ the guys knew they needed to take deep breaths of their own so they could join her. Following the next two lines, they all fell Silent so she could be heard saying, _Somethin’ like that_ in her thick, country drawl. That was when the guitarist immediately ripped into his opening riff, their drummer tapping his cymbals for about ten seconds before he really let his kit have it, Rob Beginning to saw out his own riff.

His wife sounded even more like his best friend as they worked their way through _Let it Play,_ which was another one that hadn’t been done live in quite a while. To be quite honest, he was pretty sure they’d even cut this one from their setlist after the corresponding tour of the album it came from. But after so many Years of playing practically the same setlist Year after Year, they’d felt the need to Change it up quite a bit.

Rounding out _Your Mama Don’t Dance_ shortly thereafter, CC bid the crowd to enjoy the next solo as the rest of them headed backstage again for another break. Just like when they’d took their first break, Rob wrapped his arm around his wife’s shoulders and pulled her against his side. He didn’t care about the screams and cheers from the crowd that followed, prolly as much for Rikki and his solo and the kiss he gave her. They hadn’t gone public with their relationship yet ’cuz they hadn’t felt the need to, but he wasn’t letting that stop him anymore.

As they all took cool towels and more Water bottles, they were all relieved to find that the medic’d gotten Bret’s sugar back up to a level that’d allow him to function. That’d been managed by the End of _Back to the Rocking Horse,_ and close monitoring since then proved him to be well enough to finish out the show on his own. Granted, Aerin and the band members that’d come backstage with her insisted that he go so far as to quintuple-check his sugar once they came backstage again for her husband’s solo, which’d become a norm ever since their 2017 _Comeback Tour,_ as it’d been dubbed online. His Life wasn’t worth taking unnecessary risks with any more than the others’ Lives were, and he knew better than to do such a thing. Chuckling, the vocalist grabbed her for a hug and assured her that he would, that this’d just been a freak occurrence. Since she knew that sometimes happened, she wasn’t one to argue as she Returned the hug before settling with her man.

Said Silver Fox was glad to know that his best friend was gonna be just fine, but now he couldn’t help asking himself if this was just the first of many bad occurrences that was gonna happen this tour. He damn sure hoped not, but considering the looks Heather and Lacey were shooting him, he’d a bad feeling still. Rob could only hope and pray that Ash’d been wrong, but only Time’d tell if he was or not, and he knew it all too well.


	54. Fifty-Three

_July, 2023_

_Hershey, Penn_

Exactly a month after kicking off the tour in Nashville, everybody was on their way from Boston to just outside what could be called Poison’s hometown. They couldn’t have been more than maybe thirty miles from their destination, but poor Rob was ready to rip his hair out and then some. Just like Ash’d suspected and warned him of, Heather and Lacey were hell-bent on putting doubts about his marriage in his head. In fact, they were so hell-bent on it that they’d joined the tour under the guise of just wanting to hang out with mostly Bret since they hadn’t seen him in Ages, but even the rest of them, too.

So far, the Silver Fox’d been doing a fuckin’ stellar job at keeping these bitches outta his head, all things considered. Both of them were persistent, he’d definitely give them that–then again, they wouldn’t have been two of the final three girls on the first season of _Rock of Love,_ if they weren’t. If there was one thing he could name off the top of his head that he’d always liked in a chick, it was persistence–but that didn’t help here.

After listening to the pair bad-mouth Aerin for what _had_ to’ve been the third Day off in a row, he finally reached his wit’s End with it. Not only were they talking shit about her pretty much every Time they opened their mouths when none of the blondes, their manager, and the rest of their crew weren’t around, but they seemed to have and uncanny knack for knowing when he _really_ needed some privacy. It seemed like every single Time he tried hiding in his bunk _or_ hotel room, depending on whether they were literally on the road or not, they found ways of interrupting him. He couldn’t manage to get off quick enough to avoid giving himself blue balls, and he couldn’t take another round of such an occurrence.

Having finally reached his breaking point with those couple things combined with the general stress of being on tour, Rob finally snapped. Neither one of these two were gonna get under his skin, and while he hated being cruel to someone else, he was putting his foot down once and for all. Either they were gonna learn to show some Respect, even when certain parties weren’t physically present, or he’d just as soon ditch the tour and go back home.

“Enough!” he finally roared, startling both women into Silence just as the rest of his band came outta the bunk room for the afternoon.

Heather and Lacey both wore a _Deer-in-the-headlights_ kinda look as they stared at him, seemingly not breathing in the slightest.

“I can’t even reach high enough over my head to show y’all where I’ve had it up to with this shit!” the Silver Fox snapped.

“Dude, what the hell gives?” Rikki asked, looking as utterly confused as the Melody section of their band did.

“Ask the tape recorders I’ve hidden around the bus if I’m lying or not, but I’m sick of these two trying to make me doubt my wife and bad-mouthing her at every turn,” Rob snarled. “And don’t even get me started on all the cases of blue balls these two’ve caused.”

“No fuckin’ Wonder you’ve been in such a rotten mood lately,” the guitarist mused, shooting both women the stink-eye as he moved to start coffee.

“Girls, what the hell were ya thinking?” Bret sighed. “You’re both better than that, and all three of us know it.”

“Are ya kidding me, Bret?” Heather finally asked. “She’s a fuckin’ bitch, and completely wrong for _any_ of ya.”

“Enough, I said!” the Silver Fox snapped. “I know my wife’s a bitch–she never lets me forget it! But she also never lets me forget what a loving, caring sweetheart she is in addition to that!”

Lacey made to say something, but since he got the feeling it was gonna be derogatory, he cut her off with one of the deepest growls even his band mates’d ever heard outta him.

“Ya wanna paint a picture of the right woman for me? Then answer these questions,” he told them. “Who was with me when I was on Death’s door, ran off to get help with practically no prompting when it was discovered that I’d quite literally shit my guts out?”

Both their jaws dropped, the drummer being the only one to high-tail it off the bus as he shivered violently.

“Who was it that was having flashbacksta when she lost someone near and dear to her and crying her eyes out as she waited to be told even something like they were having a hard Time with my surgery, but they were making progress on pulling my guts back up to where they belonged?”

Still, neither of them seemed to be able to think of anything to say.

“And who was it that put up with me whining when I finally hit my pain threshold till the Percocet kicked in enough to knock me out?” The Silver Fox crossed his arms as he stared them down. “Who was it that was by my side through _all_ of that shit and then some, despite having Health problems of her own that makes daily Life hard for her _without_ having to take care of me like an infant, with or without help from others?”

“I can safely say _I_ already know the answer to all those questions, girls, given that he was crashing in _my_ house for a month,” CC drawled, although it sounded a bit funny with his thick Brooklyn accent.

Heather and Lacey merely shared a look with each other before looking back to him.

“It was _Aerin_ who was at my side and _mother Henning_ me to Death, not either of y’all or any other woman,” Rob said. _“She’s_ the one who fought through her rheumatoid arthritista take care of me, even though it was hard on her, despite having the help of CC and both our sons.”

At this point, both women finally started to look appropriately abashed.

“Now, I’d suggest both of y’all quit bad-mouthing my wife and trying to split us up, ’cuz it ain’t happening,” the Silver Fox said. “And interrupt me when I beg for even three minutes of privacy, and I ain’t stopping till I blow a load in your faces, ’cuz I’m sick of _that,_ too.”

“Go, take care of business, man,” Bret chuckled, his expression quickly shifting. “’Cuz if I’ve to put up with much more of your sex-deprived attitude, I’ma borrow some spare drumsticks from Rikki and pull an Aerin on ya.”

Flipping him off since he knew exactly what kinda threat he was making, he simply smirked as he ducked into the bunk room for his desperately-needed alone Time. Regardless of how he decided to address his friends’ behavior–or not, for that matter–it wasn’t any of his business at this point. He’d said his piece when he’d finally exploded, which’d served the additional purpose of bringing all this shit to at least the vocalist’s attention.

Rob groaned as he settled into his bunk, reaching up to massage his temples before jerking his curtain closed. He didn’t even care if he tried jerking off again or not–all the stress’d given him a helluva migraine, and he’d slept in a weird position, which’d made his neck start acting up again on top of it. There was a part of him that was desperate for some release–a _Good Love_ kinda Night, as his wife’d say–but with the amount of pain he felt from his shoulders up, he wasn’t too sure he wanted to bother right now. Maybe he was better off going back to sleep for a while, considering that struggling to get off’d just make his blood pressure spike.

Heaving a sigh as he at least shoved his PJ britches down since he preferred sleeping nude, the Silver Fox couldn’t help hoping that his friend took Heather and Lacey to task over this shit. Knowing Bret’d his own ways of dealing with trouble-makers, though, he decided to put those two in a lil cage in the back of his mind. A sweet lil Fantasy–or maybe just a memory of something like his wife’s sexy lil dance in a naughty Mrs. Claus dress while pregnant–would no doubt serve him in better stead.

Just after he’d taken his friendsta task over the shit they’d been putting his _best_ friend through behind his back, Bret sprawled out on the couch in the front lounge. He’d made no bones about how he didn’t always like Aerin any more than the others did, and she certainly had her moments when she’d love nothing more than to use a guitar as a baseball bat on them. But like their bassist’d realized very early on, they’d come to realize that she was a one-of-a-kind woman that was hard to find in any walk of Life these Days. The look on his face as he’d made it clear that he didn’t appreciate what they’d been doing any more than Rob had made them feel more than a lil ashamed of themselves, just like he’d wanted.

Before they could really get a chanceta relax, the bus door opened so that someone could board, and they all heard Rikki talking to someone. The laugh that answered him as he boarded the bus, now that he’d allowed more than enough Time for the gross partsta be covered, was all too familiar to the other blondes’ ears. Neither of them’d to ask as they rose who was with him, and they weren’t disappointed to see him holding Aerin’s hand as he escorted her like a gentleman.

“Hey there, girlie!” CC chuckled. “Gotta say, this is a surprise.”

“That’s how it was meant to be, Cracker Jack,” she laughed, moving to hug him, then the vocalist. “More so for my man than anyone else, but still a surprise, nonetheless.”

“Definitely achieved that much, then,” Bret told her. “Now, go help your man before he explodes in a bad way.”

“Do I even wanna know?” the young woman asked, cocking a brow.

“Let’s just say that he none-too-kindly brought some shit to our attention that’s left him between a rock and a hard place, as it were,” he answered.

“Oh, boy.” Aerin rolled her eyes and face-palmed before reaching into her pocket. “Well, I’d suggest clearing out or paying the price–choice’s yours, boys and girls.”

“I’m not sure if I should even bother asking or not,” the redhead finally said.

All that answered her was a downright devious grin as she held up a single packet that she pulled outta her pocket.

“Oh, dear God in Heaven!” CC cackled as he jumped up. “Nope, I’m out–heard enough the Night he proposed, damn it!”

The other pair of band members just about choked on their coffee as they got what she was telling them.

“Um, what?” Heather finally asked, looking just as bewildered as her friend.

“If ya don’t already know, ya prolly weren’t meant to,” the young woman said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve some masculine brain-rebooting to do.”

Not even Bret was immune to a bout of laughter as he simply sat his coffee mug down and wrapped his arms around the shoulders of his friends. Watching her disappear into the bunk room so Silently, he knew his friend wouldn’t have heard her coming, he told them to just wait. He’d already heard a couple soft groans that he recognized all too well, so he knew damn good and well he wasn’t asleep or anything of the sort.

* * *

In his bunk so he was hidden from prying eyes, Rob was trying to keep quiet as he stroked himself to full attention, so to speak. He didn’t really want the others knowing what he was doing, even though they’d made it pretty clear that even they thought he needed to. There was just something mortifying about his best friends knowing when he was and wasn’t jerking off, much like any other bodily function. Considering that they weren’t involved in any way, shape, or form, he didn’t think they needed to know whether he’d any Success with his efforts or not.

Naturally, he was more than a lil startled when his curtain got yanked open from the foot of his bunk, which ripped a gasp from the back of his throat. He didn’t get a chanceta even attempt pulling his covers up over himself before the head of whoever’d yanked his curtain open entered his bunk. Problem with that was that he’d been blinded by the sudden flare of Light, so he didn’t know who the hell’d interrupted him this Time.

“Hey, what’d I–oh, holy God and Goddess, above and below!”

The Silver Fox couldn’t have held back that scream, if he’d tried, his eyes damn near exploding from his skull as he felt something all too familiar. Not only was it a pair of soft, perfectly plump lips wrapping around his tip, the mouth they were attached to slowly sliding down, but a telltale tingling that didn’t normally happen. His wily wife’d gotten him with this particular trick a few too many Times for him _not_ to recognize it, even if it wasn’t an everyday thing for them.

“Fuck, woman,” Rob groaned, unable to help a whimper immediately afterward.

_“Hmm…mmm,”_ she hummed, her breath blasting against his lower belly as she laughed when he gently tangled his fingers in her hair.

“Gods damn it, don’t tease me, sweetheart,” the Silver Fox begged. “I can’t take it right now.”

“That so, huh?” Aerin asked after letting go with a very audible _pop. “È il mio d’Argento Volpe avendo un momento difficile?”_

“Far harder than I should be–in more ways than one,” he answered, a pleading look on his face as he looked at her, then down at his crotch and back up again.

“Guess I need another mouthful, then,” the young woman chuckled.

_“Ahhhh,_ fuck me, nekkid and runnin’!” Rob cried, his hips bucking involuntarily when she took him back into her mouth after a few seconds.

She merely laughed around him again, apparently willing to indulge him when he shifted his hand slightly, but tightened his grip on her hair.

The Silver Fox was quickly reduced to a writhing, moaning mess due to how many Times he’d been interrupted lately. Between that, how much he’d simply missed his beautiful wife, and how talented her mouth’d proven to be in many different ways, there was no way he was holding back for long. In fact, he couldn’t even warn her that he was about to blow for once, his orgasm built that hard, fast, and furiously.

Aerin didn’t mind that he hadn’t been able to give her any warning this Time, and that was for a couple different reasons. First and foremost, she could tell that he’d been unnaturally desperate–more so than even their first date on the Beach right after they’d met. Secondly, she still had the flavor of those Pop Rocks coating her tongue, so his salty Essence was at least a bit more tolerable to her for once. But even if she’d to taste the full brunt of it, just being able to tell how desperate he was woulda kept her from bitching him out as she managed to choke down his entire load.

Panting harshly as he finally collapsed against the mattress of his bunk, Rob couldn’t help but feel like his brain’d been rebooted as much as the Night he’d proposed. He couldn’t have formed a single coherent Thought after an orgasm that’d quite literally left him with dimmed vision till it finally Ended, even if he’d wanted to. This woman was forever surprising him in all the best ways, and he couldn’t have been more grateful that she’d decided to surprise him by meeting up with their tour.

Once he’d caught his breath a bit, the young woman gently pushed up on her husband’s hip and shoulder, Silently encouraging him to roll onto his side so he faced away from the aisle. He was clearly pretty outta it now, so she wasn’t surprised that he was more than a bit confused about what her Intent was. But one of the other things she’d been able to tell with just a glance was that he no doubt had a headache, if not an out-and-out migraine. As if that wasn’t enough, it seemed like his neck was bothering him on top of it, and knowing that he was in pain didn’t sit well with her. That just wouldn’t do when she’d _magick hands_ that she wasn’t afraid of putting to some damn good use, even if that meant he slept through part of their Time together.

“Just relax, and enjoy,” Aerin whispered, leaning forward to gently kiss the back of his neck once she’d moved his hair to reveal it.

“Dear Gods, what the fuck would I do withoutcha, sweetheart?” he asked, groaning as she started digging her thumbs in.

“Lose your fuckin’ mind and never get your rocks off again,” the young woman laughed, completely uncaring of Bret and the bimbos listening from the front lounge since she hadn’t quite closed the bunk room door.

“If the last month’s anything to go by…” Rob chuckled. A rapid succession of groans followed as she started digging into his shoulders next. “Course, that wasn’t _all_ from missing you, or even the tour.”

“Well, we can talk about it later,” she told him. “I can already tell you’ve at least a headache, and your neck’s prolly not feeling so great, either.”

“Migraine, actually,” the Silver Fox corrected her. “And it’s my whole back from this damn bunk, not just my neck.”

“Then we need to fix that, stat,” Aerin said.

Moments later, he felt the knuckles of both hands dig into his back and start sliding from shouldersta tailbone.

“Damn, I might have to try something else,” the young woman grunted. “If I can getcha outta your bunk, that is.”

“Don’t really wanna move,” Rob chuckled. “Hell, I’m not even sure if I _can,_ to be honest.”

“Yo, Bret!” she called with a laugh.

“At least get some boxers on him, damn it!” the vocalist retorted. “’Cuz I’m not pulling him outta that curtained coffin till I’m not gonna see his dick!”

“Fair enough, not that I was gonna subjectcha to that, anywhore!” Aerin cackled.

“Oh, thank God!” he chuckled, giving her a minute to do as he’d requested before entering the bunk room. “Now, what the hell am I doing, exactly?”

“Getting _Mr. Jello Legs_ outta his bunk and dragging him up front for me,” the young woman answered. “’Cuz there’s not enough room for what I’m about to do back here, if anyone feels like being civilized about relieving ’emselves instead of pissing in the kitchenette sink.”

“Damn, girl–ya really did a number on him this Time,” Bret laughed, gently hauling his best friend outta his bunk and upright.

She didn’t even try to deny that accusation, considering how her husband could barely stand, even with his support. All she did was grin as he all but dragged him up front, which was pretty much exactly what she’d told him was gonna happen. Thankfully, he managed not to drop her husband and make him add a busted faceta his pain, which was an all-around good thing.

Up in the front lounge, Aerin put every last pound she carried on her frame into moving the coffee table outta the way, glad to find that it hadn’t been bolted down. It was certainly heavy, no doubt hiding various possessions and forms of entertainment, but she still proved to be able to muscle it outta her way. Once enough Space’d been cleared, she told the vocalist to get her husband stretched out in the floor by any means necessary short of simply throwing him down like a rag doll. The point wasta _relieve_ his pain right now, not _add_ to it–and besides, she didn’t wanna see him wind up in the hospital again.

Rob’d absolutely no idea what his wily wife was up to as he propped his torso up enough to rest his chin in his hands. One well-trimmed brow cocked curiously as she nabbed a duffel bag she’d apparently brought with her and started digging through it, clearly ignoring the other women who were watching Intently. He certainly wasn’t expecting her to pull out what looked like several small Mason jars, a stick wrapped in some seriously thick cloth on one End, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol.

“Um, da fuq, sweetheart?” he asked, his confusion written all over his face as she headed back to the bunk room for a sec.

“Like I said before, just relax, and enjoy,” the young woman chuckled as she Returned with pretty much every pillow he’d nabbed from their bed to bring with him.

“How the fuck am I supposed to enjoy when I dunno what you’re about to do to me, ya wily lil she-devil?” Rob asked, even as she made him roll onto his side for a minute.

“’Cuz this is gonna hurt _soooo_ good,” she laughed. “And might even convince ya to open your mind a lil more, too.”

The Silver Fox’s eyes looked like they could pop outta their sockets at any moment, much to the amusement of his best friend.

“Seriously, what’re ya gonna do to him?” Bret asked.

“It’s called Fire cupping, if ya really must know,” Aerin answered. “Basically, think a helluva massage that’ll prolly leave him asleep right here on the floor.”

“Hence grabbing every pillow I stole from our bed,” he mused. “Not too sure I’m up for anything painful, as sore as I already am, though.”

“Well, it pretty much works the same way as a deep-tissue massage,” the young woman explained. “So, it’s _gonna_ hurt–not much I can do about that, unfortunately–butcha oughta feel a metric fuck-ton better later.”

“Really, now?” Rob cocked a brow curiously, even as he rolled onto his front again so he could settle on his pillows comfortably.

“Let’s just say I’ve turned Ash into a puddle of Purdy Goo with this a few Times, and he loves it as much as the Pop Rocks trick,” she told him with a grin.

“All right, all right–count me in, sweetheart,” the Silver Fox laughed. “If _he’s_ willing to letcha torment him, I’m willing to trust his judgment.”

“Not to mention you’re just willing to trust _me,”_ Aerin told him, even as she curled up to give him a quick kiss since she’d knelt down next to where he was laying.

Making sure that he’d more than enough pillows under his head so he wouldn’t have to turn it sideways, but could still breathe, the young woman got herself fully set up. She made sure that her torch was well-doused in the alcohol she’d pulled outta her duffel bag, which she reached back into for something else. Her husband couldn’t see what else she was going after–not that he even realized she’d reached back into her duffel bag–but she knew he’d figure it out soon enough.

There was no mistaking the Sound of her flipping open the lid of her Zippo, which she hadn’t really used in Years, nor the Sound of her striking it. Outta all the types of lighters he’d used back in the Day when he still smoked himself, his favorite’d always been a Zippo. He’d have to be an absolute moron–or have his brain completely rebooted–in order to _not_ recognize the familiar Sounds of his favorite lighter.

He couldn’t help a wince and a groan as he felt what was obviously glass against his upper back a couple minutes later. But it wasn’t the glass against his back–which was admittedly a lil warm–that made him react like that in the slightest. It was feeling the meat the glass was pressed to get sucked up into it that’d made him let out those noises, ’cuz it was definitely a hair on the painful side. Then again, what he’d to put up with outta his neck and whenever he got a migraine was far worse than this, so he could take it. Hell, even the way his wife’d damn near broken his hands while she was in labor with Zep and Zeph’d hurt worse than this, so he could most definitely take it.

Aerin paused to make sure he was all right, her focus completely on him as if this was an actual BDSM scene. Once assured that he was simply feeling what she’d expected him to feel, she got to work on getting three more jars attached to his back in strategic places. With them securely attached so they wouldn’t pop off prematurely, she decided to give him a minute to fully adjust to the sensations. It wasn’t till he fidgeted a bit restlessly that she finally gave in and got down to business, which started with her moving so she could straddle his thighs just below his ass.

_“Ahhhh,_ Goddess,” Rob groaned, unable to help a wince as she started forcing those jars into motion.

“I know, I know, _il mio d’Argento Volpe,”_ the young woman crooned. “It hurts, but at least I warnedja before I ever started.”

“Even your tight grip while ya were in labor hurt worse than this,” he told her. “Hell, I honestly thoughtcha were gonna break my hands!”

“Oh, I damn well wanted to, and then some,” Aerin laughed. “Only thing that stopped me was wanting help with those boogers and knowing that I was just as much at fault.”

“Shouldn’t have gotten me with those Pop Rocks when I was already beyond desperate,” the Silver Fox snickered.

_CRACK!_

“Damn it, woman!” Rob yelped, unable to help bucking from the smack that landed on the right side of his up-turned ass.

“Gotta even ya out now, love,” the young woman said.

“Fuck me, nekkid and runnin’!” he yelped. “You’re gonna be the Death of me!”

“Only if ya stay as desperate as ya were when I barged in on ya,” Aerin retorted before getting back to work on his back.

Still ignoring Bret, Heather, and Lacey, she made sure to keep her attention focused on her husband and his reactionsta what she was doing. It wasn’t long before he started to melt under her the same way Ash did when she Fire-cupped him after a long Day at a flip, especially ones that involved the removal of porcelain or cast Iron plumbing fixtures. That was exactly the End result she’d been looking for when she decided to try this idea on him, so she was definitely satisfied.

Careful to be gentle on him, the young woman started detaching the Mason jars from his back one at a Time. Rob couldn’t help a slight wince as each one popped loose, but was quick to settle down again, especially once the last one popped loose. Feeling something a bit chilly along the length of his spine momentarily startled him, but a few murmured words right in his ear settled him down again.

Aerin couldn’t help her smile as she used both handsta massage in the aloe vera lotion she’d squirted on his back. She knew that he was gonna be bruised all to hell for a few Days, ’cuz that was just part of being Fire-cupped, like it or not. But she knew that just ’cuz there was nothing she could do about the bruising, no matter how Light or Dark, she didn’t have to leave him with irritated flesh. It was for that reason that she was closing out his first-ever Fire-cupping this way, which he seemed to enjoy quite a bit. Then again, his enjoyment was the top priority here, and it didn’t matter to her whether the situation was sexual or not. All that mattered to her was that her man was comfortable and taken care of, which was the mark of a helluva wife.

It wasn’t long before the Silver Fox’d dozed off under her gentle, loving ministrations, and she wasn’t the least bit surprised. Grabbing the towel that’d also been packed in her duffel bag, she was quick to wipe the excess lotion off her hands before getting him truly settled. She knew there was no way in hell she was moving him on her own, and even the rest of his band prolly wouldn’t be able to move him, if they teamed up. Besides, it was better to just leave him alone while he was comfortable and sleeping well enough to catch a good nap, which was apparently something he’d needed.

Once she’d cleaned up her mess, the young woman settled next to her man so that she was half on her back, half on her side. Almost as soon as he felt her warmth next to his arm, Rob was squirming closer to her in his sleep so he could use her chest as a pillow. The soft sigh that drifted from his lips as he wrapped his arm around her and nuzzled like their son often did drew a smile from her as she settled with her head supported well enough to avoid getting a crick in her neck. She knew damn good and well the others were watching with an uncanny interest as she gently played with his hair, which just made him smile. Aside from any questions about their actual sex Life, she was more than willing to answer just about any question that got thrown at her. Her concern was that he was comfortable and sleeping well before she started doing any such thing right now.


	55. Fifty-Four

“So, where on Earth didja learn how to Fire cup somebody?”

Glancing up from under her lashes after giving her husband a kissta the top of his head, Aerin wasn’t the least bit surprised that it was Bret who’d asked. After all, it wasn’t like she’d ever really shared much of her Past with even Ash–her husband knew the most outta anyone closeta her, and even _he_ didn’t know all of it still. She wasn’t surprised that he wanted to know, nor that he prolly felt the most comfortable posing that question as compared to his friends.

“The Birth Creature, believe it or not,” she finally answered.

“Wait, seriously?” The vocalist seemed incredulous, considering what he knew about Kat, which totally confused the other women.

“What’s that reaction for, Bret?” Heather asked.

He simply looked at the youngest woman, clearly asking her permission–which only added to their confusion.

“Just the bare basics, or somebody’ll be pulling my head outta the toilet and keeping Rob from going off the rails,” the young woman told him.

Nodding, he looked back up at his friends. “Long story short, her mother was abusive as hell–I mean, damn near knocked her head off right in front of everybody on the _Stadium Tour_ at a backstage meet-and-greet a couple Years ago, abusive.”

“What?” Even Lacey’s jaw dropped.

“Oh, Aerin got her back–fuckin’ laid her out like a rag doll,” Bret chuckled. “Point being is that they more than put the _fun_ in dysfunctional. I swear, I coulda had either of them on _Rock of Love,_ and it prolly woulda gotten even crazier than all the other drama combined.”

“Not unless we were both on there at the same Time,” Aerin told him. “But you’d never get me on something like that, ’cuz Rob’s obviously the one who’s stolen my heart.”

Neither of the other women could deny that she was obviously mad about the man currently using her as a pillow. She was relatively friendly with the other band members, but that’s where it Ended–she obviously wasn’t interested in them in any other sense. Clearly, she was one of the rarities that once she was interested in a guy, no other guy mattered to her, and that was a good thing.

“Basically, I’m surprised she’d have learned that particular Art from her mother ’cuz of all the other shit,” the vocalist continued.

“Well, if their relationship’s _that_ dysfunctional, I guess I’d be surprised, too,” Heather admitted.

“Y’all don’t even know the half of it,” she snorted, rolling her eyes. “Still keeping it on the short side, here–the bitch abused me in one way or another short of sexually my entire Life, made me prefer being homeless or dead over living with her, and is technically the reason why I didn’t know I’d rheumatoid arthritis till about six months before I met Rob.”

“So, Bobby _wasn’t_ lying about that earlier,” the redhead mused.

Her friend gently smacked her shoulder, a bit of a horrified look on his face as he mimed slitting his throat.

“What–What’d I say this Time?” she asked, the confusion back on her face.

“We don’t call him that in front of her,” Bret explained. “Remember how he also mentioned her freakin’ out while he was in surgery from losing someone near and dear to her?”

“Yeah, but what’s that got to do with this?” the blonde woman asked.

“He was referencing my pappaw–grampa, for those who don’t speak fluent hillbilly,” she answered, managing a slight smile. “Said pappaw–I always called him _Bob_ growing up, and it fuckin’ hurtsta call anyone else by a similar name.”

Both women winced sympathetically.

“I was terrified that I was about to be told that I’d lost _another_ Robert that meant the World to me, and I pretty much completely lost it in front of Rikki and Nikki Sixx since they were waiting with me,” the young woman explained. “I come with a metric fuck-ton of baggage, but various parts of that baggage’re _why_ Rob and I connected.”

The vocalist chuckled and said that even _he_ wasn’t gonna ask exactly what she meant, ’cuz he was still more curious about that Fire-cupping than anything else. Letting out a chuckle of her own, Aerin said that her mother’d inadvertently sparked her mild interest in BDSM when she was a teenager. She hadn’t really explored that World in the Time since, mostly ’cuz she hadn’t found anyone she _wanted_ to explore it with, but she’d certainly found out a few things about herself.

Heather and Lacey were both surprised to find out that she couldn’t be restrained unless she specifically asked for it, or it’d make her freak out. But she was more than glad to explain that between mostly her mother putting her in what she’d always called _attitude adjustments_ as a kid and a bad experience with mild bondage when she was nineteen, it’d make her have flashbacks and freak out. If and when that happened, even her husband wouldn’t be safe from possibly getting hurt, even though she obviously wouldn’t mean to hurt him. The fact that she’d rheumatoid arthritis wouldn’t stop her from getting violent once her _fight or flight_ reflex kicked in, especially if she couldn’t escape what she considered a dangerous situation.

“And Rob gets that,” she said. “He gets that I’ve my moments when I’m an Emotional wreck–but he also gets that I’ve my reasons why, and I purposely don’t show it very often on purpose.”

“You’re lucky she’s opening up _this_ much,” Bret dead-panned when the blonde woman seemed like she wanted to ask. “It took her six monthsta _really_ get into her Past with the rest of us further than two sentences’d take us–everything else, she’d to give Rob and her best friends permission to tell us.”

“I don’t open up very easily ’cuz I’ve had my Trust broken a few too many Times,” Aerin told them when they looked down at her. “But once I warm up to someone–well, I don’t care if it leaves me drugged for a few Days, I’ll go so far as to pop my hip outta socket, if I means protecting those I love and care about.”

“But the _Romantic_ Love only goesta one person, doesn’t it?” Heather asked.

“Damn straight.” The young woman nodded. “I’m not gonna deny being attracted to other guys–hell, if I hadn’t met and gotten to know Rob when I did, I’d have gone after Richie Kotzen, if given half a chance. But there was no denying who I’d _already_ fallen for–I just needed to know if I’d fallen for a public persona that painted him out as a good guy when he was really a wife-beater, or if he was genuinely the kinda guy I thought he was.”

“I think you’ve figured that out by now, _la mia Musica Strega.”_

Unable to help a chuckle as her husband squirmed, then tilted his head back so he could kiss her, she wasn’t surprised he’d at least heard her say that much. As well as she’d gotten to know him, she’d felt his heart rate pick up a couple minutes ago, and that never happened unless he was about to wake up. He might not’ve heard the rest of the conversation before then, but then again, he didn’t exactly need to hear it all.

Heather and Lacey seemed a bit surprised when the only other movement he made wasta lay his head back down on her chest with a sigh like he was gonna go back to sleep. The desperation he’d seemed to feel just an hour or two ago seemed to’ve disappeared, but they knew damn good and well that wasn’t the case. Not only that, but the young woman seemed just as content to merely lay there and let him use her as a pillow, rather than trying to drag him off again, now that he’d woken up. But that was one of the things they didn’t realize about this highly-unlikely couple–sex was a big part of their Life, but they could live without it just as easily.

“Okay, so maybe we were wrong about these two being good for each other,” the blonde woman finally sighed.

Lacey just shot her a somewhat incredulous look.

“Well, look at them,” she said, gesturing to the couple. “I’d have thought one of them woulda dragged the other off by now, hint hint, but they’re more content to just lay in the floor of the front lounge, for God’s sake!”

“Just ’cuz I love my wife and the sex’s absolutely stellar–even _without_ the Pop Rocks–doesn’t mean that’s _all_ there is to our relationship,” Rob snorted.

“Seriously,” his wife agreed. “I could tell as as soon as I yanked his curtain open that he’d at least a headache. Turns out to be a full-on migraine, and I know all too well how he feels–better he just relax than get his blood pressure up again since I’ll make him have a KISS moment, if he pukes on me.”

_“No más,”_ he begged. “That wasn’t fun when the Sympathy sickness was kicking my ass, sweetheart.”

“Wait, what?” The redhead looked confused.

“He got his own taste of Morn sickness when I was pregnant with the twins,” Aerin snickered. “And the first Time he puked on me ’cuz he didn’t just get up when he first started feeling nauseous, I made him lick at least part of it up–till he damn near puked on me again.”

“Not going there again–and besides, I’ma boob guy,” the Silver Fox admitted with a grin. “The softer, the better, if ya ask me.”

“Knock it off before I cage ya, ya dork!” she laughed.

“Oh, fuck no!” Rob actually reared back by rolling onto his side and reaching down to cup himself. “Don’t need _or_ want another one of _those_ T-shirts!”

“Good boy, considering that orgasm denial’s a lot easier to do to you than it is to me,” his wife said, smirking at him. “Then again, maybe I _wanna_ reboot your brain again–I need to think about that.”

Even Bret cracked up so hard, he practically choked on his final sip of coffee and definitely shot part of it out his nose. He knew damn good and well they joked around and goofed off like this a lot, whether it involved their sex Life or not, and it was a good thing. The Silver Fox’d been absolutely miserable after his divorce, and seeing him so happy made all his friends happy, too–not to mention gave them Hope in humanity again.

Still smirking as she looked back up at the other pair while all but yanking her man back against her, the young woman made it clear that she knew how and when to push her man’s buttons. He was a typical man in a lotta ways–after all, he’d his sexist pig moments where he thought with his lil head more than the big one. But there were Times that sex mattered as lil to him as it did to her–they’d their own special connection that was based on many different things. Neither of them cared whether the rest of the World agreed that they belonged together–their opinions were the only ones that truly mattered.

Looking into their eyes and seeing the Love that glowed there really drove home what the Silver Fox’d said about his wife being the perfect woman for him. The way he looked at her said it all–far more than his mouth ever could–and that look was Returned a hundredfold without the slightest prompting. It was the kinda thing they’d wanted with his band mate when they’d been competing for him on _Rock of Love_ all those Years ago. But these two’d found that without having to go on national TV with cameras following them around everywhere.

Before long, the couple were pushing themselves up outta the floor and gathering up the pillows that’d been dragged outta Rob’s bunk. That loving look that’d been on his face was quick to morph into one of concern when his wife winced and kinda stumbled once she was on her feet. He didn’t give her a chanceta argue before he swept her up against his chest, playfully biting at her nose when she demanded that he put her down. As far as he was concerned, his neck and back weren’t a problem at the moment, but her hip acting up again most certainly _was_. The fact that she’d no doubt been laying in a weird position while he was napping on her couldn’t have helped that, and he was Intent on making it up to her. If that meant picking her up and carrying her, despite her stubborn Nature, he was all for it–even if he paid for it later on.

Watching him disappear into the bunk room so he could all but stuff her in his bunk, then Return for their pillows so he could join her, no one could deny what was between them. Bret cast a glance at his friends and warned them that if he heard another tale of them trying to come between these two, it’d be a good, long while before they heard from him again. He loved that they cared about him and that extended to his friends, too, but he wasn’t letting them ruin something so hard to find. Sighing as they shared a look with each other, they agreed to knock it off, if only so they didn’t lose what lil they had with _him_ as a result.


	56. Fifty-Five

_September, 2023_

_Loudon, Tenn_

Tour was finally over, and there was no one who was more glad than Rob was as the cab he’d hailed finally pulled up in his driveway. He’d gotten to enjoy not only his few Days off with his wife during the week she’d joined the tour, but he’d gotten to go home for a couple weeks immediately afterward. Never in fifty Lifetimes could he get enough of this woman, even when all she wanted to do was cuddle on the couch and watch a movie with him, regardless of whether one of both of them’d seen whatever movie was in question once or over a hundred Times.

Heather and Lacey’d kept their promise of laying off when it came to trying to get in his head and make him doubt both Aerin and their marriage. They’d even left him alone when he’d go hide in his bunk, or when he’d go hide in his hotel room once the tour’d picked up again in Jacksonville on August seventh. No more attempts at interrupting him’d been made, and he couldn’t have been more grateful for that, if he’d tried.

Still, walking up the brick walkway that led up to his front door was more than a bit of a relief for him, and he was sure the guys felt that way, too. After a while, the constant stress and tight schedule–not to mention the even tighter quarters–got to all of them. Missing their families while they were on the road certainly didn’t help those kindsa things, so it was always good to get back home. Knowing that his wife and all four of his children were waiting for him on the other side of this door Inspired a Happiness he couldn’t Begin to describe.

“Eh?”

The curious lil noises that drifted to his ears from the living room made a grin split his face as he gently closed the front door behind him. Moments later, a pair of lil bodies appeared in the archway that opened into the foyer, the twins having heard his entrance and crawled over to investigate. Bright lil smiles lit up their faces as they realized who was in front of them, and they both let out deliriously happy squeals as they started crawling toward him at top speed.

_“Da-da-da-da!”_ they screeched as they crawled for him.

“What’re chu boogers getting into now?” Aerin asked, clearly heading toward the foyer.

_“Mmm,_ Daddy missed chu boogers,” the Silver Fox murmured, now on his knees as he grabbed both for a hug.

_“Da-da-da-da!”_ Both toddlers happily wrapped their arms around his neck and plastered themselvesta his chest.

“Chu lil–well, no Wonder.”

Looking up from where he’d buried his nose between both toddlers’ heads to keep things as even as he possibly could, he grinned as he saw his wife.

“’Bout Time ya finally got home, love,” Aerin chuckled as he moved to get up, Zep and Zeph squealing when he kept them snuggled against his chest as he did.

“Oh, Goddess–I’m so glad to be here,” the Silver Fox said. “I love touring and all, but c’mon–nothing beats walking through my front door to _this_ kinda greeting.”

“Not to mention ya get to lay around and sleep for a week straight,” she laughed. “Well, if these two’ll _letcha,_ that is.”

“They might wind up pinned to the bed,” Rob chuckled, leaning down to give her a searing kiss.

“Or dumped in their bubba’s or sissy’s bed so Mama can be pinned to it,” the young woman purred, nipping at his throat.

He couldn’t help the growl that rumbled up from the depths of said throat, even though he was definitely exhausted enough to sleep for a week. Even though he’d gotten quite the private party during that week or two toward the End of July and Beginning of August, it’d been quite a while since then. Time’d pretty much flown by, yet dragged on like a dead Elephant behind him, and while he hadn’t exactly kept track of _exactly_ how long it’d been, he’d a pretty good idea.

Aerin laughed as she confirmed that it’d been just over a month since he’d hit the road again after that break, so it hadn’t been quite as long as it’d felt. Then again, even she’d started to feel more like it’d been three or four months, so she could totally relate to that part of how he felt right now. Course, when she recalled a couple Years ago, she could relate to how relieved he wasta finally be back home, too.

Taking Zep and Zeph, she managed to convince them that they needed to let Daddy catch a nap since he was so tired. Luckily, it’d been pushing their own naptime, so they didn’t bother trying to fight her as she headed off to the master suite. With a sleepy smile on his face, Rob hauled his carry-on up to his shoulder and grabbed the handle of his suitcase so he could follow her. He always loved getting to see the sway of her hips from behind, considering how sexy and hypnotizing that sight always was for him. At least right now, it’d give him something wonderful to Dream about since he was too tired for much of anything else.

“Chu boogers let Daddy seeps,” the young woman said as she settled the twins in the Center of their bed.

“Da-da-da-da,” they babbled sleepily, both letting out adorable lil yawns.

“Sounds like Daddy needsta get into snuggle mode,” he chuckled.

“Sounds like it, indeed,” Aerin agreed. “Just leave your stuff, love–I’ll deal with it while you’re napping.”

“Ya sure about that, sweetheart?” the Silver Fox asked with a yawn of his own.

“I think I’m capable of separating clean clothes from dirty and putting up your shower gear,” she answered. “Now, put your butt in that bed and provide teh ’nuggles.”

“All right, all right,” Rob chuckled.

Both babies giggled as they scooted slightly more to one side, both knowing what was coming next.

_“Oof!”_ He let his entire body bounce as he simply flopped on his side of the bed. “C’mere, chu lil ’nuggle bunnies.”

Zep and Zeph babbled sleepily as they scooted back across the bed so they could snuggle against him.

“Night-Night, chu lil boogers,” Rob murmured as he kissed both their heads. “Sweet Dreams, and Daddy luz chu.”

The young woman couldn’t help a smile as both toddlers squirmed enough to attempt Returning those kissesta their heads. Both more so licked his lips than actually kissed him, but considering their age, she knew he found it as amusing as she did. After all, they were only fifteen months old, so they didn’t have nearly the motor skills that even a two-Year-old possessed. Just the fact that they’d given it their best shot was good enough for them, and was no doubt part of the reason all three of them dozed off with smiles on their faces.

About three hours after he’d fallen asleep, Rob woke to two different sensations that almost immediately clued him into it _not_ being his wife who’d woken him. Something was gently poking his closed eye, the finger that’d been poking him moving to his cheek when it seemed like he was about to open said eye. But while that something’d been poking his face, something else seemed to be tonguing his nipple, which brought a sleepy grin to his face.

Cracking open his eyes, he saw a lil body sitting up in front of him, and the blur of blue attached to its face told him that Zep was the one sitting up. That could only mean that his twin’d managed to crawl up under Daddy’s shirt, which meant that it was Zeph who was phantom nursing. He was used to his younger daughter doing that, though–she was quite the _Daddy’s girl,_ and she didn’t seem to like pacis and bottles.

“Whassa matter, lil man?” the Silver Fox asked, his voice gravelly from having just woken up as he reached up to ruffle his hair.

Zep whined as he reached down to his crotch, which was a pretty clear sign of what was wrong.

_“Ahhhh,_ chu needs a new diapie, huh?” he asked.

The toddler whimpered as he nodded, proving just how smart he was for being so young.

“Betcha Sissy needs a new diapie, too,” Rob chuckled, managing to push himself upright without detaching said daughter. “And boff of chu prolly needs noms since Sissy done started suckling again.”

His younger son giggled as his lil belly grumbled, which seemed to set off Zeph’s, too.

_“Ohhhh,_ Mama!” the Silver Fox called out their bedroom door.

“Oh, boy–sounds like some extra hands’re needed!” Aerin laughed from the kitchen.

“And extra nipples!” he chuckled as she appeared in the back hall that led to their bedroom and the garage.

“Chu done gots a leech, Daddy,” the young woman said as she took in the sight.

“Didn’t even realize it till Zep woke me up by poking my eye,” Rob told her as he moved to the changing table while she was scooping up said son.

“Boy, what’d Mama tells chu ’bout letting Daddy seeps?” she asked, holding him against her chest.

“Ah, relax, sweetheart,” the Silver Fox laughed. “He woke me up for a diaper change and food, so I can’t really get mad at that, no matter how tired I am.”

“As long as that’s the _only_ reasons he woke ya up,” Aerin said, giving their son a stern look.

Said toddler nodded vigorously as he suckled his paci, his lil belly growling again as he squirmed.

Quick to get his younger daughter changed once he convinced her to let go of his nipple, he was outta his wife’s way within a couple minutes. After all, the only thing Zeph’d done was wet her diaper, so there wasn’t really that much to clean up this Time around. With the changing table freed up, it was her brother’s turn for a diaper change, so he headed out to the kitchen to start figuring out lunch plans.

But even as he started digging through the stash of baby food they now used in addition to milk to feed the twins, there was something on Rob’s mind. He hadn’t talked to his band about it, mostly ’cuz of Heather’s and Lacey’s presences, but also ’cuz he wanted to talk to his wife about it first. That young woman’d been his rock ever since they’d met, especially when it came to decisions that’d effect him–and especially those in his Life–on a more long-term basis. She’d a way of pointing out things he hadn’t thought of that no one else in his Life did, or getting him to think more deeply about something that _had_ already crossed his mind.

When she walked into the kitchen with Zep on her hip, Aerin could almost immediately sense that something was going on. She didn’t know what it could possibly be, but whatever it was, it was big–and it was gonna affect a whole lot more than just her family. But she refused to actually ask her husband, ’cuz he was well aware of her rule-of-thumb–take his Time with speaking his mind, if he wanted, but speak the Truth and nothing but when he did.

“Sweetheart, I got something I wanted to talk about,” the Silver Fox said as they sat down to feed the twins once said toddlers’d picked their own lunches.

“I kinda figured, based on what I felt as soon as I walked into the kitchen,” she chuckled, cracking open the jar of Carrots that Zep was already drooling over.

“Trust me, I’ve thought about this quite a bit,” Rob admitted with a sigh. “But I’m just not sure I should stay in the band anymore.”

“And why’s that?” The young woman cocked a brow at him as she scooped out the first spoonful for their son while he was cracking open Zeph’s jar of Pears.

“Well, don’t get me wrong–I still love touring and all,” he started. “And while I was excited to give it a try after that rectal prolapse, it was a lot harder than I thought it’d be.”

“Not just ’cuz of Heather and Lacey at first, right?” Aerin asked.

_“Mmm mmm.”_ The Silver Fox shook his head, guiding the baby spoon he held into his younger daughter’s hungry mouth. “More so ’cuz of my Health and missing my family so much, but that certainly didn’t help.”

“Whaddaya mean by _your Health?”_ she asked, now sounding concerned.

As he continued scooping pureed Pears into Zeph’s mouth, Rob explained how a couple Times, all the sweating from Summer temperatures combined with the stage Lights’d caused some mild constipation. He’d managed to get himself rehydrated and straightened out, but whenever that happened, he was terrified that he was gonna wind up in the hospital again. The last thing he wanted was for her to get a phone call saying that he was fighting for his Life with a recurrence, or something equally serious. If that were to happen, it might be worse than the last Time and leave her unable to say her final goodbyes before he was dead and gone.

The young woman was definitely more than a lil disturbed to hear that particular bit of news, but she was starting to understand his concerns. Letting himself get so dehydrated was what’d caused his rectal prolapse in the first place, and they were diligent about preventing that now. If a single tour’d almost proven to be his End by causing the very thing they tried to avoid–well, maybe it really _was_ Time to cash in his chips.

Mulling over what he’d revealed to her as they fed the twins, Aerin finally looked up at him and admitted that he certainly had a point. She didn’t wanna _ever_ get a call saying that he was clean across the country–or Gods forbid, overseas–and fighting for his Life. It wasn’t like she could teleport and be by his side within seconds–it’d take her a while to get to him, especially if Poison was doing an international tour. By the Time she managed to get to her husband, if that were to happen, it might be too late for her to do anything but collect his corpse and bring it back home for burial. Never in her Life did she wanna have to do such a thing, nor have to be the one to bring his corpse back to Zach and Zoe before raising Zep and Zeph on her own.

Gently covering her hand with his own, the Silver Fox made it clear that that was the very reason he’d been thinking about this the entire tour. He really didn’t wanna give up that part of himself–he’d been a part of this band ever since its inception in 1983, after all. But if he’d to choose between the band that’d brought him to where he was in Life and being around to _enjoy_ Life, he was gonna choose being around. This Year made forty Years that they’d been a band, and it’d been a helluva ride during those forty Years–the Time’d come now.

“And you’re absolutely sure about this?” she asked, lacing their fingers together.

“Sweetheart, I could die of a heart attack the next Time we jump in the sack for some fun, hint hint,” Rob chuckled. “Or maybe I won’t kick the bucket for _another_ forty Years.”

“Can’t say I disagree there,” the young woman admitted.

“Either way, I wanna be at home with my family, not on the highway in the middle of nowhere, when that Time comes,” he told her. “I wanna be surrounded by the ones I love that love me in Return–even the guys–not hidden in a bunk where no one knows till the next Time we stop for bathroom breaks and to fuel up.”

“Hey, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, love,” Aerin said. “’Cuz if I’d to choose how and where I’d wanna go out, I can’t say I’d choose much differently.”

“Oh, really?” the Silver Fox asked with another chuckle.

“If I were to die tonight, there’s nowhere I’d rather be besides in your arms,” she answered. “Whether we’re in bed, on the couch, wherever doesn’t matter to me–we could be strapped to the ceiling, for all I care.”

“Not too sure how we’d manage to be strapped to the ceiling,” Rob laughed. “Hanging from a hammock or something, maybe–but I couldn’t see us hanging from the ceiling any other way.”

“Ya know what I meant, ya goofball!” the young woman retorted, even though she couldn’t help a laugh of her own.

“Getting back on track, though–I’ve pretty well made up my mind,” he sighed once they’d Calmed down. “I don’t want my final goodbye to be by coming home as a Spirit before I cross over or something, and I get the feeling that’s what’ll happen, if I push it too much.”

“Ya know I’ll be right by your side through it all, if you’re sure about it,” Aerin swore. “But my question’s this–how’re ya gonna break the newsta the guys?”

Taking a deep breath, the Silver Fox admitted that that was another part he was kinda torn over since he hadn’t quite made up his mind about quitting the band before now. If he actually quit, should he talk it over with the guys first and risk them trying to talk him outta it, or should he just quit and not say anything till he made the public announcement? Part of him honestly wanted to talk it over with the guys first, but he knew how they were–they’d no doubt try to Change his mind on the matter by making him second guess himself.

But at the same Time, knowing that about them, Rob was tempted to just quit and let them find out when the rest of the World did. Sure, it’d be the more brutal, shocking, and undoubtedly disrespectful way to go, but it’d also prove just how serious he was on the matter. None of them could argue with him if he just up and did it, ’cuz by that point, it’d be too late to convince him that he shouldn’t.

Squeezing his hand, Aerin could see how and why her husband would be so torn over making decisions he’d never thought he’d have to. He clearly held the utmost Respect for his band mates, even when they made him wanna clobber them with something. But with his Health and possibly his very Life on the line here, she didn’t blame him for wanting to do what was best for himself and his family. The best advice she could give him for the moment–if he was this serious about quitting, he’d be best to sleep on how to break the newsta Bret, Rikki, and CC, not to mention the rest of the World. Once he’d thought it over a bit more, go with what his gut told him was best, ’cuz that first, gut feeling was usually the right one.

Knowing that he was actually more Intuitive than his young wife due to being ruled by a Water sign, the Silver Fox realized she’d a point. While he knew that Logic was gonna play a big role in all this, he also knew that his own Intuition was gonna serve him just as well, if not better. He couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face as he leaned forward to give her a gentle kiss, much to their babies’ delight. In fact, the sweet Sound of their giggles almost had his mind made up right then and there, but he forced himself to remember that there were a lot more people who’d be affected by his End decision as he leaned back again.


	57. Fifty-Six

After sleeping on what he’d been thinking about for roughly a month, Rob’d finally made his decision–and he knew his band mates weren’t gonna be happy about it. He’d decided _not_ to talk over quitting the band with them, ’cuz they were bound to try convincing him that was their worst idea since firing CC back in 1991. They’d no doubt try to make him feel like he was falling through on a prior commitment, even though it wasn’t like he was quitting in the middle of a tour or writing another album. And speaking of that latter scenario, it’d been twenty-one Years since their last album of original material–he didn’t think any such thing was ever gonna happen again, and he was tired of holding out Hope for it.

Having decided that he was just gonna let them find out when the rest of the World did, he’d to decide exactly _how_ he wanted to go about announcing his exit from Poison. Should he just have his manager release a statement on his behalf and leave it at that with no further explanation? Or should he sit down for an interview where he explained his reasons for wanting to quit so outta the blue like this? It was questions like that that’d made him wait nearly a month after making up his mind to actually say anything to anyone but his wife.

Eventually, Aerin’d helped him come to the decision that he should sit down for an interview to make the announcement. While he technically didn’t owe _anyone_ any explanations, they both knew that once the news broke, there’d be reporters practically breaking down their front door for just that. It’d be better to go ahead and explain his reasoning immediately after making the announcement, rather than waiting even a few Days and letting things get outta Control. But the other part they’d to decide on together was whether or not he did it solo, or had her and the twins be a part of it as proof that he wasn’t lying about his reasons.

“Ready to do this, love?”

Glancing over from where he’d been holding Zeph in his lap for the makeup artist to put just enough makeup on her to avoid her looking sick on camera, the Silver Fox nodded. “Ready as I’ll ever be, sweetheart.”

“Ya know we’re gonna be waiting in the wings till you’re ready for us to join ya,” his wife reminded him, leaning down for a gentle kiss.

Zep remained wrapped around her leg, which he’d clung to once the other makeup artist’d finished with him a couple minutes ago.

“I know, I know,” Rob chuckled once he’d Returned the kiss. “Doesn’t mean I’m _not_ nervous, though. I mean, c’mon–I’m about to give up everything I’ve known and loved for forty Years, as far as a career goes.”

“At least your family won’t be worrying about whether you’re gonna come back home to us alive, or in a Pine box,” the young woman said.

“Then let’s get to it before I wind up letting the Anxiety Change my mind for me,” he said.

Nodding, Aerin plucked Zeph outta his lap once the makeup artist was done with her, then managed to pry her twin off her leg and scoop him up, too. Both toddlers wanted to be with their daddy, so they weren’t exactly happy that they’d to stay with Mama, Bubba, and Sissy. However, at least said trio were able to keep the lil boogers quiet while he was getting settled so he could open the interview on his own.

“Hey there, everyone!” The interviewer–a guy by the name of Kyle that he’d worked with plenty of Times before–greeted the camera trained on him with a grin. “Today, I’m sitting down with an unexpected guest for a very special interview!”

The Silver Fox smiled and waved at the camera behind him, which was trained on him for the interview.

“I’m sure we all recognize him, but please allow me to introduce one of the four _Glam, Slam, Kings of Noise,_ Poison bassist, Bobby Dall!” he said.

“Last I checked, that’s who I was,” Rob chuckled.

“So, diving right in…” the interviewer said. “For once in all the Years we’ve known and worked with each other, it wasn’t _me_ who reached out to _you,_ but rather the other way around.”

“Definitely true,” he acknowledged with a nod, crossing his arms.

“Must mean you’ve some pretty special newsta share, if you’re reversing the typical roles,” Kyle mused.

“Well, I’d go with the word shocking, versus special,” the Silver Fox admitted. “I guess it depends on how ya look at it once I’m done.”

Naturally, that caught the attention of everybody in the room, and the man who sat across from him wasn’t the slightest bit shy in asking him to elaborate. This was where he’d to take a couple deep breaths, feeling his heart rate spike since he was so nervous about what this small crew, the rest of his band, and the entire Planet were gonna say. He knew it was gonna be quite the shock to those who didn’t already know–even Ash and Aidan since not even they’d been told yet. But thankfully, his young wife knew just how to Calm him down–even from afar–’cuz he almost immediately felt a Calming, Soothing Energy he knew coulda come only from her.

“Since I’m really in no mood to beat around the bush right now,” Rob started. “I’ve decided that–after forty Years–it’s Time I cashed in my chips and quit Poison.”

Every jaw in the room with the exception of his family’s dropped to the floor as soon as he said that.

“Care to repeat that?” the interviewer asked, sounding as shocked as he now looked.

“I’ve decided to cash in my chips and quit Poison,” he said, his voice not giving away even an ounce of the Anxiety he still felt.

“What on Earth brought _this_ on?” Kyle asked, quite literally throwing away the list of questions he’d apparently Intended to go by.

“Well, let’s go back in Time by a couple Years so this makes sense,” the Silver Fox chuckled, shifting so he could rest one ankle on the opposite knee. “Everybody knows that I’ma pretty private guy outside the band–been that way since the Beginning, and I haven’t really Changed that in the decades since.”

“Yeah, nobody can say that you’re the open book that Nikki Sixx is in most cases,” he agreed with a chuckle of his own.

“Think back a couple Yearsta when we’d that young woman join us onstage during the _Stadium Tour,”_ Rob told him. “I didn’t say so at the Time, but that was my girlfriend, whom I’ma call Rebel like we did onstage outta Respect for her privacy.”

“I just heard the Past tense there,” the interviewer mused.

“’Cuz she’s not my girlfriend anymore–she’s now my wife,” he laughed, holding up his left hand to show off his handfasting band.

The entire crew moved a bit closer so they could get a better look, each of them Awed by the Crown-shaped piece of Metal that encircled his ring finger. One of the cameramen even zoomed his camera in so those who eventually watched this’d be able to get a better look at it. Having gotten a better look at his handfasting band, they all moved back to their previous positions, restoring the Space that’d been between them. Rob crossed his arms again, his ring still on display, but not quite as easily made-out now as just moments ago.

“All right–so, ya wound up with a girlfriend who’s obviously a lot younger than you and was willing to join ya onstage,” Kyle said.

“Not just that, but has been my rock as much as I’ve been _her_ rock ever since we met three Years ago,” he told him with a nod.

“I get the feeling that she ties into your shocking announcement in more ways than one, then,” the interviewer mused.

“’Cuz she does.” Rob nodded again. “Rebel’s a one-of-a-kind woman–I can’t even Begin to put into words just how special she is. Hell, most women I’ve ever tried to date’d get jealous just from me interacting with fans on the road, but my wife–I don’t even have to ask if she’d lemme go so far as to have another girlfriend, if that was what I wanted, ’cuz I already know she’d lemme.”

“You’re kidding,” he said, clearly watching his mouth since the twins were present.

“She’d never ask anything of me that she was unwilling to do or give, herself,” the Silver Fox told him, shaking his head. “Not saying that either of us Intend to do such a thing, but if we were to ever find anyone else we wanted to be with in addition to each other–well, as long as she knows about such an arrangement, she doesn’t really care, and the same rules apply to myself.”

“That’s a helluva thing to process,” Kyle chuckled.

“Ya get used to it after a while,” he laughed.

Since even the crew and his family’d burst into laughter at that, Rob was forced to wait a few moments for the laughter to subside so he could continue. But glancing over to see his babies giggling in their siblings’ arms made his own smile widen, ’cuz there was nothing he loved seeing and hearing more than Zep and Zeph giggling and smiling. There was nothing about being a dad that made him happier, and he knew the crew was starting to pick up on that based on the looks they were now shooting him. And he knew he was about to have to get into what’d Influenced his decision, which made him turn his attention back to the camera.

“Sounds like you’ve quite the relationship with your wife in all the best ways,” the interviewer said. “And I don’t think I need to ask if she was a big part of why ya made the decision thatcha did.”

“No, ya don’t, ’cuz she was–in more ways than one,” he admitted. “But the reason I made that decision goes a lot further than just my wife–she just played a big role in what happened.”

“Whaddaya mean?” Kyle asked, cocking a brow at him.

“I’m sure no one’s forgotten how we’d to suddenly cancel the final show of the _Stadium Tour_ a couple Years ago,” the Silver Fox said.

“Are ya kidding me? The World’s _still_ asking about that, and you’d think it woulda blown over by now!” Kyle laughed.

“You’d think, yeah,” he agreed with a chuckle. “The answer to that question–I’d a sudden medical emergency that _no one,_ not even me, saw coming.”

“It wasn’t your neck again, was it?” the interviewer asked.

“No, didn’t involve _any_ of my spine this Time,” Rob answered with a shake of his head. “I’m not gonna get into detail to spare the public with weak constitutions, but it was digestive this Time.”

He couldn’t help cocking a brow. “You’ll have to tell me once the cameras aren’t rolling, then.”

“Fair enough,” the Silver Fox chuckled. “But that wasn’t the End of that particular story–it still affects me now, although how badly depends on any given Time.”

Kyle listened Intently as he explained that he lived with the threat of a recurrence hanging over his head at all Times, but he’d managed to avoid such a problem thus far. Sometimes, that was easier to do than others, but he still managed to and to live a fairly normal Life after what’d damn near killed him. It was at that point that he’d to start getting into some of the more gross parts, but he still kept it toned down for everyone’s sake.

“Again, not going into detail, but that medical crisis led to me winding up under the knife, like it or not,” he explained.

“Doesn’t sound like it’d be very pleasant,” the interviewer said with a wince.

“Oh, definitely far from it,” Rob agreed. “My wife–who was still my girlfriend at the Time–my son, CC, and CC’s son saw the majority of the aftermath, and they’ll all tell ya that it wasn’t pretty.”

He cocked a brow curiously, which made his older son hand Zeph to her mama and come out to join him.

“This is my son, Zach,” the Silver Fox chuckled.

“Don’t even say it, ’cuz I know I’m his _Mini Me,”_ Zach said with a chuckle of his own. “Kinda hard to deny it when I’m practically a clone of him.”

“Never even crossed my mind,” Kyle dead-panned, everybody cracking up at his sarcasm. “I’m guessing ya helped take care of your dad after his more recent surgery?”

“Yeah, ’cuz he needed a lotta help with just getting up and moving around at first,” he answered. “I mean, my stepmother _woulda_ done it, had she been physically able to, but it was better for me to step in and be a living crutch.”

At that point, Aerin decided to hand her daughter off to Zoe, who managed to get both twins settled on her hips. With her baby handed off to good hands, she joined the pair who were already being interviewed, both men grinning as they roseta stand on either side of her. The interviewer’s and crew’s eyes widened as they saw the obvious difference in size between them, and none of them really felt the need to ask Zach to elaborate further as they settled.

“Well, I guess there’s no need to ask if you’re the Missus,” he laughed, taking note of how she settled in the Silver Fox’s lap.

“Definitely no need,” the young woman agreed. “Nor is there really any need to ask why it woulda been better for Zach to be his dad’s crutch.”

“Definitely not.” Kyle nodded as he looked between them. “I mean, I’m not saying you’re a weak woman or anything, but you’re easily a foot shorter–it’d be a lot harder for you to pick up a guy of his size that wasn’t at full strength.”

“Well, not quite a foot,” she corrected him. “I’m five-three–as long as I’m standing on my longer leg, that is–and with his neck surgery, my husband’s down to five-ten.”

“Close enough for gov’ment work!” the interviewer laughed.

“But even without the height difference and being far weaker, I’ve rheumatoid arthritis,” Aerin admitted. “That makes just everyday tasks hard–sometimes, I’ve to brace up like I’ve spent twice my current age beating myself up in a factory or working the Land.”

“Which means trying to help Bobby physically is definitely outta the question for ya,” he said, Enlightenment Dawning.

“Bingo, hence why Zach stayed out West to help out with him once he and his sister both got to visit him in the hospital,” the young woman agreed.

Turning enough to gently kiss her husband’s cheek, she effectively turned the explanation back over to him without actually saying a word. Rob couldn’t help his smile as he craned his neck just long enough to give her a real kiss, then turned his attention back to his interview. Still, he’d to take a deep breath before he actually got into the aftermath of what he’d been through a couple Years ago.

He made it clear that having been through such a traumatizing experience’d been quite a bit of what’d made him decide he wanted to marry again. For roughly twenty Years after his divorce, he’d been adamant that he never wanted to take that leap of Faith again, ’cuz he didn’t think he’d it in him to go through another divorce. Granted, he _still_ didn’t think he’d it in him to repeat that particular experience, but there was a big difference this Time around. Aerin was absolutely nothing like his ex-wife, and he knew that if this marriage Ended at any point, it’d be with one of their Deaths versus someone filing for divorce.

“So, knowing that my Time here could be a lot shorter than even I realized, I Changed my mind on taking that leap of Faith,” the Silver Fox chuckled. “Both my kids liked her well enough–not that I’d have cared–and all my friends seemed to like her pretty well, so I really had no reason _not_ to pop the question besides being chicken.”

“Considering that you’ve admitted to her being your wife several Times, I don’t think I need to ask if she said yes or no,” Kyle chuckled.

“Definitely said yes,” she laughed. “I’ll admit that I almost wanted to stop him when I realized he was about to propose, ’cuz he knew my feelings on marriage.”

“She never wanted to marry, but I decided to go on a bit of an unbeaten Path,” Rob elaborated with a grin. “I basically told her that it was up to her–if she wouldn’t marry me, I wanted her to at least take the ring as a constant physical reminder of my promiseta be there for her till Death and beyond.”

The young woman held out her own hand to show off her handfasting set to everyone and the cameras.

“We wound up trading rings and vows on the anniversary of my grandfather’s Death all of a week or two later,” Aerin said. “He knew how hard that Day was for me to get through, and he was hell-bound and determined that I’ve some _good_ memories for that Day to Balance out the bad.”

“Sounds Romantic, indeed,” the interviewer chuckled.

“Definitely.” She nodded her agreement, lacing her fingers over her husband’s hands once he wrapped his arms around her and laced his own over her belly.

“While we were on our honeymoon was when we found out she was pregnant,” Rob laughed. “Definitely didn’t see _that_ –or the Sympathy sickness I wound up with–coming, for sure.”

“Wait, really?” He seemed surprised to hear that.

Glancing over to his right, the Silver Fox jerked his head back toward them, which made his older daughter laugh as she joined them. “This’d be my daughter, Zoe, and the newest lil boogers.”

The entire crew couldn’t help an _awww_ as his wife roseta take their son, who was reaching for her, which allowed him to take their daughter. Zoe settled on the couch arm, her stepmother settling next to her dad so he was sammiched between her and Zach. Both parents gently shushed the toddler they now held, and his Love for his family was painfully obvious as he quieted his younger daughter. Only once they’d settled so they were content with sitting in their parents’ laps and sucking their thumbs did said parents turn their attention back to the interview.

“Even though I was excited, there was a part of me that _didn’t_ wanna go on this Summer’s tour,” Rob said as he snuggled his younger daughter. “I mean, I hadn’t gotten as much Time with my girlfriend as I woulda liked till I damn near keeled, and after that, I’d pretty much been with her constantly.”

“He flat-out vetoed a tour _last_ Year due to my pregnancy,” Aerin elaborated with a chuckle. “He knew such a thing’d be harder on me than most women due to my arthritis, but with twins–yeah, he definitely wasn’t leaving.”

“That’s not to say that Zoe and I wouldn’t have helped her,” her stepson chuckled. “But Dad’s insanely dedicated to his family–once he makes up his mind on something involving us, there’s no Changing it.”

“Got that right,” the Silver Fox agreed. “It’s ’cuz of my family and my own Health why I’m quitting Poison, not ’cuz I truly wanna.”

“I’m guessing you’re making a reference to your Health troubles a couple Years ago by saying that?” Kyle asked.

Nodding as he rubbed Zeph’s back, he admitted that at the start of this Year’s tour, he hadn’t felt better than what he did in a long Time. Even though he was fifty-nine Years old now and dealt with what he and his family referred to as a _bum knee,_ he still had every bit of the Energy that he’d possessed when he was _twenty_ -nine Years old. He’d felt like not even his Health crisis from a couple Years ago could stop him from making it through this tour, as long as he monitored himself closely.

But that over-confidence’d damn near been his downfall, ’cuz almost the exact same thing’d started to happen all over again within a month. Still, Rob wouldn’t go into detail about what he’d gone through while on camera, but said that he’d just barely avoided winding up in the hospital again. It was at that point that he’d started thinking long and hard, but kept his mouth shut about his Thoughts till he got home and could talk them over with his wife. He didn’t wanna make a snap decision, and he knew that if there was anyone who could help him sort it all out without making him feel bad about it, it was her. Not only that, but she loved playing the _Devil’s advocate,_ so she could often see different aspects that a lotta others wouldn’t.

It’d been Aerin who’d convinced him to sleep on it, to go with what he felt in his heart and gut was right for him. She’d been the one to remind him that his first gut instinct was most likely the right one, and that he was better off listening to it than he wasn’t. For that reason, he’d decided against talking any of this over with his band since he was sure they’d have tried talking him outta this.

Sighing heavily as he hugged Zeph, his wife snuggling against his side while his older kids gripped his shoulder and rubbed his back, the Silver Fox offered his apologiesta said band. He knew they were gonna see this interview eventually, and he wanted to apologize for dropping such a bomb on them as much as he was dropping it on the rest of the World. But he knew they remembered what he’d gone through a couple Years ago, and while they’d no doubt be upset with how he’d chosen to go about this, they’d no doubt understand his reasoning for it.

Once the interview’d been formally concluded and he was assured the cameras weren’t rolling, Rob kept his promise of explaining what he’d gone through. He wasn’t surprised that a couple of the crew members looked more than a lil green around the gills, which made him chuckle. After all, he’d warned them right from the get-go that it was pretty graphic, and that most of the Planet prolly couldn’t handle such an explanation. Now that he’d given it, though, Kyle could understand why he’d said that and actually thanked him for waiting till _after_ the interview to do so. But now came the hard part, and that was getting the footage copied to their computer so they could maybe do some mild editing to the Lighting. Other than that, Kyle simply had to find the Will to upload said footage and a transcript of it to his magazine’s website, which was gonna kill him.

Knowing it was better that the announcement be publicly made sooner, rather than later, he was already getting to work before the Dall family’d even left his magazine’s headquarters.


	58. Fifty-Seven

“Well, happy fuckin’ birthday, girl!”

Looking up from shoveling applesauce into her son’s mouth, Aerin wasn’t surprised to see that Ash and Aidan’d let themselves in. She also wasn’t surprised to see Ember riding on her mama’s hip, said mama looking flabbergasted while her daddy looked that _and_ excited. A slight smirk crossed her face as she used the baby spoon in her hand to wipe said son’s bottom lip, already knowing what woulda sparked those reactions from her best friends.

“Getting your man all to yourself’s prolly one of the best birthday presents around, huh?” Ash chuckled as he moved to hug her while she was finishing up with her task.

“I guess so, even though we didn’t Intentionally Time it like that,” the young woman laughed.

“That so, huh?” he asked with a smirk of his own. “’Cuz y’all’re just devious enough that I _don’t_ buy that for once.”

“Actually, it really is true,” Rob spoke up with a chuckle. “She told me to sleep on it like I said in that interview, and yesterday just happened to be the only Time Kyle was free till–well, pretty much after New Year’s.”

“Ouch.” The younger bassist winced as he settled next to his best friend as she and her husband finished feeding the twins their breakfast. “Knowing you, ya wouldn’t have wanted to wait that long to make such a big announcement.”

“Hell, I didn’t even wanna wait the last month, but I kept waffling on it too much,” he sighed. “Every Time I thought I’d my mind made up, I’d Change it for all of a Day or two before I’d Change it again.”

“Once he _finally_ made up his mind on actually quitting–or maybe retiring, depending on how ya look at it–and held to the same decision for two weeks, we’d to figure out _how_ he was gonna announce it,” his wife added.

“Seriously.” The Silver Fox rolled his eyes as he wiped Zeph’s face from where she’d made a mess of herself with her Pears again. “Did I wanna just have my personal manager release a statement on my behalf and leave it at that, or did I wanna go the route I actually did so I could explain my reasoning?”

“If he actually sat down for an interview about it, did he wanna have his family involved as proof, or did he wanna leave us outta it and on the sidelinesta protect our privacy?” Aerin chuckled as she handed both her babies one of their bottles. “That’s the kinda stuff that made it work out so that the announcement was made the Day before my birthday.”

“Okay, okay.” Ash couldn’t help a chuckle of his own. “Devious as y’all _are,_ though, ya can’t blame a guy for wondering.”

“Never said we did,” Rob laughed, rising to start cleaning up from baby breakfastime. “Just saying that–for once in our Lives–we actually _weren’t_ be devious as much as logical.”

Before he could really say anything else, he was cut off by the doorbell ringing, and he took a deep breath to steel himself as he headed off to the foyer. They’d long since invited his now-former band mates out East to help celebrate his wife’s birthday, so those plans’d already been in place well before he’d even considered his most recent professional move. He couldn’t help being nervous about seeing them again, ’cuz he knew they were all bound to be highly upset with him since he hadn’t told them prior to that interview. Gods knew _he’d_ have been upset, if any of them’d done such a thing and he didn’t know till the rest of the World found out.

“Hey, guys–c’mon in,” the Silver Fox said after opening his front door to reveal exactly who he thought he’d find.

The trio of blondes nodded, Bret looking the most unhappy as they, their significant others, and their kids entered the house.

“We’re not getting into it right now,” Rob growled as he closed the front door behind them. “I know you’re not happy, but you’re not ruining my wife’s birthday, either.”

“Fair enough,” Rikki agreed, clamping a hand over the vocalist’s mouth when he made to argue. “Do ya _want_ that lil she-devil in a bad mood and going on even a _verbal_ rampage?”

“I wouldn’t even put her hiding your insulin from ya as punishment for ruining her birthday beneath her,” the shortest blonde dead-panned.

“I wouldn’t do that, but I’d damn well make him rue putting me in a bad mood on my birthday.”

The Silver Fox couldn’t help a chuckle as they got into the living room, his wife giving them a hard look from the adjacent breakfast nook. Aerin wouldn’t necessarily do anything that’d make anyone sick–at least, not to the point of winding up in the hospital in most cases–but she’d certainly stick to her word. If she’d to give him a headache from hell that made him wanna sleep for a week straight by being a bitch, she’d damn well do it. Granted, that’d make it that much harder for any kinda _after-party shenanigans,_ if one would, but at least he knew when he could even attempt Changing her mind and when he couldn’t.

As the trio of blondes and their families were passing out hugs and _happy birthdays,_ the doorbell rang again, sending him heading off to the foyer. One of the surprises he’d planned this Year, he hadn’t mentioned to his wife any more than he’d said a word about his retirement to his former band before he just did it. However, he got the feeling this was gonna be one Time where his Secretive Nature turned out to be a good thing.

Upon opening the door to find yet another former band mate and his family, Rob held a single finger up to his lips in a bid to keep quiet for a minute. The man standing in front of him cocked one finely-arched, mostly brown eyebrow at him, and he leaned close enough for him to actually hear. He Intended to mess with his wife a bit, ’cuz he knew damn good and well she’d call out to make sure he hadn’t just gotten dragged outside to be mauled or something.

“I better not come into that foyer to find my husband being mauled!”

“See? Toldja she would,” he snickered. “Nah, you’re not gonna not find your husband getting mauled or anything, sweetheart.”

“Then what on Earth could be taking so long with answering a door?” Aerin laughed.

“Well, there was _supposed_ to be one last birthday present for ya,” the Silver Fox answered. “But I think the mailman got confused, ’cuz this doesn’t look like what I ordered.”

“So, do a _Return to Sender,_ love!” she told him, laughter still coloring her voice.

“I dunno–ya might wanna come take a look and make sure it’s not something ya ordered for yourself that I didn’t know about,” Rob chuckled.

“Ugh–gon’ make an arthritic mama that’s already run ragged get up when she’s comfy!” the young woman said.

He knew she was only feigning annoyance as he heard her get up from wherever she’d settled–most likely in his favorite recliner–and start heading for the foyer.

“So, what on– _ohmiGoddess!”_ Aerin’s jaw dropped as she entered the foyer and saw who was with him.

_“Buon compleanno, la mia Musica Strega,”_ the Silver Fox said, unable to help another chuckle as he leaned down to give her a kiss.

Laughing as she Returned the kiss, then turned her attention to the newcomers, still more than a lil surprised to see former Poison guitarist Richie Kotzen standing there. After giving said guitarist a hug, she turned her attention to the women with him, whom she already knew to be his wife and daughter. No doubt her husband had paid closer attention to some of the shit she’d been listening to recently, and just in the three Years they’d known each other.

Richie couldn’t help a chuckle of his own at seeing this young woman’s excitement, although he _was_ surprised that she was actually his former band mate’s wife. He couldn’t really sling any shade, so to speak, ’cuz his own wife was significantly younger than himself, but he’d always taken the Silver Fox as the kinda guy who _wouldn’t_ give into such a rock star norm. But now wasn’t the Time to talk about such shit as he and his family allowed themselvesta be led into the living room. Now was the Time to celebrate this young woman’s birthday, according to her husband, despite the looks he was getting from the rest of his former band mates.

Aerin let out a growl that sounded more Animal than human when she caught the looks that at least two of the blondes were giving this particular guest. Said guest, his wife, and his daughter were all startled by that growl, but they were amazed when both the blondes she’d growled at shrank like they were actually scared of her. None of them were quite sure what to make of that, which was apparently amusing to the other couple settled on one of the couches.

“Piss me off on my birthday, and I really _will_ hide your insulin– _and_ your glucose tablets!” the young woman snapped at the front man.

“Yeesh–temper, much?” Richie chuckled.

“Only when she feels the need,” the brunette settled next to the ginger chuckled. “Otherwise, Aerin wouldn’t bother harming a fly.”

“No, flies get added to that list since they’re more annoying than Bret,” she grumbled.

“Okay, fine–if it’s not an annoying or venomous insect, ya won’t hurt it,” he laughed.

“Unless it’s a Snake,” one of the boys sitting in the floor snickered.

“That’s if she doesn’t climb Rob or Ash like a Cat Tree,” the ginger cackled.

“Somebody gon’ die today,” she grumbled, crossing her arms in a way that made her already-ample bosom look even bigger and more inviting.

“No one’s dying unless it’s after Dark, sweetheart,” Rob chuckled, wrapping his arms around her.

“At least if anyone dies after Dark, it’ll be with a smile on their face,” Aerin retorted with a smirk as she looked over her shoulder at him.

Finally, the rest of the gathered group burst into laughter as the couple shared another kiss before settling in the only free seat in the living room. As they were more or less Dog-piled by a pair of toddlers that seemingly babbled in their own language, introductions were made where necessary. The only one who really needed to be introduced to Richie was the younger bassist, who hadn’t ever really been as much of a Poison fan as his best friend.

Once everybody’d been introduced to one another, the kids were actually the onesta kick off the birthday party. All three toddlers seemed to attempt singing _Happy Birthday_ to the young woman, whom they practically smothered in kisses as they giggled hysterically. Said young woman clearly didn’t have any problems with that as everybody else actually sang the aforementioned song to her.

Given that it was pushing Noon by this point, Rob’d to extricate himself from the Dog-pile he’d been pinned down into. What he Intended to make for lunch to appease his wife normally wouldn’t have taken very long since he generally made it for only four people. But with so many adults–and even children old enough to truly eat solid food–he was gonna have to seriously multiply his recipe. That meant it was gonna take longer to make, especially since–even with two ovens at his disposal–he was gonna have to make his masterpiece in batches since he could make only so much at once.

Everybody in the living room started sniffing curiously as the first batch’s scents started wafting into the living room, which made him grin. The Silver Fox refused to actually tell them what he was making, ’cuz he wanted it to be a surprise for Aerin, but he swore everybody’d be satisfied in the End. Ash cocked a brow at him, considering he was as notoriously picky in some of his food choices as his adopted sister was, which just earned him a laugh. He still refused to give it away, but he assured him that even _he’d_ eat what was put in front of him, and if he didn’t, he must have another case of Sympathy sickness going on.

“Oh, Gods–I hope not!” the younger bassist laughed. “That was miserable enough the first Time around, and I didn’t have it _nearly_ as bad as you!”

“Wait, _Sympathy sickness?”_ Richie looked as confused as his wife and daughter did.

“Long story short, think _Morn sickness_ for Daddy during pregnancy,” Rob chuckled.

“Never heard of that before,” he mused, a thoughtful look on his face. “But I guess just about anything’s possible.”

“It happens sometimes, if a couple’s a strong enough bond,” Aerin explained. “That, and if the woman’s a high enough hormone level while she’s pregnant.”

“I’d say _you_ definitely did,” Ash said.

“No dip, considering I turned out to have _two_ buns in my oven,” the young woman dead-panned. “I’d be a lil scared, if my hormone levels’d been the same as Aidan’s, even though we conceived at damn near the same Time.”

“Wait, seriously?” the virtuoso laughed. “Jeez, that’d to be quite the surprise.”

“Yeah, I started suspecting I was pregnant the Day Rob and I handfasted,” she chuckled. “Aidan admitted she’d already gotten _her_ pregnancy confirmed, but swore me to Secrecy so she could tell Ash herself.”

“Just like _she_ wanted to tell _Rob_ her own news,” the ginger in question said.

“Not like she really got a chance before I was having to pull her head outta the toilet like she was wasted again,” Rob snickered as he rejoined the group for a bit. “And Gods know within a couple Days of having _her_ pregnancy confirmed, we were pulling each others’ heads outta the toilet.”

“I still remember when ya got home from your honeymoon and starting to pack up the Florida house,” his older son chuckled. “I think ya scared Zoe to Death when ya shoved her away and turned to puke in Ash’s Flower bed.”

“’Cuz he _did_ scare the crap outta me!” said daughter insisted, much to everyone’s amusement. “I mean, c’mon! Daddy _never_ puts his hands on either one of us in a bad way, so what the hell am I _supposed_ to think when he practically grabs my boob and damn near shoves me on my assta turn and puke?”

Even the blondes and their significant others couldn’t help a round of laughter at that, the Dalls simply grinning as they made no movesta deny the claim. The Silver Fox knew damn good and well he’d somewhat inappropriately grabbed his older daughter that Eve, but it wasn’t like he’d meant to. He’d meant to grab her shoulder to push her back, but between exhaustion-induced blurry vision and trying to move quickly, he’d overshot–or maybe _under_ shot–his target.

As he headed off to finish up lunch, he wasn’t surprised to hear Richie ask if they were planning on adding to their family again later on down the road. He was forced to bite back a snicker at his wife’s vehement response when she told him that they hadn’t even been planning on adding these two boogers. Even though she loved their babies and wouldn’t give them up for shit, she didn’t ever want more than these two.

The conversation about that–and therefore what measures they took to prevent such an occurrence–didn’t last much longer before Rob was announcing that the first round of lunch was done. He called the kids in first since he’d purposely thrown their batch into the oven so it’d be cool enough for them as he was pulling out the adults’ batches. Said kids cheered as they jumped up and darted into the kitchen, all of them loving when they got a mouthful of pretty much anything he made. All of them agreed that–outta all the members of Poison–he was hands-down the best chef, and they looked forward to getting his cooking since it didn’t happen often.

“I better not find sauce all over my floor!” he warned them, helping the younger kids by carrying their plates into the living room for them.

“We know you’ll make us lick it up, Uncle Rob,” Vallon chuckled as he settled between Jude and Lucy.

“And then you’ll be scrubbing out anything ya _can’t_ lick up,” the Silver Fox said with a stern look.

“Yeah, no–there’s no way he’s been a dad for upwards of three decades now,” Ash said, his words laced with sarcasm as he grinned.

“Oh, no–none at all, brat who’s only a few Years older than my oldest,” Rob laughed. “I just became a dad a lil over a Year ago, didn’tcha know?”

Snorts and laughter filled the living room at his answering sarcasm, which he expertly ignored as he hefted up his younger daughter.

“Get your rumps in here and pick whatcha want,” he told the adults. “There’s several different kindsa what the kids’ve got.”

“Dare I ask how many different kinds?” Bret asked with a chuckle.

“Easily half a dozen,” the Silver Fox answered, Zeph snuggled against his chest as he headed back into the kitchen. “And that’s just ’cuz I know there’s so many people who might not agree with each other on fillings.”

“Sounds like as good a plan as any for feeding so many people, no matter the occasion,” Richie mused, starting to pass out platesta everyone.

By the Time all the adults’d served themselves part of the homemade strombolis and settled back in the living room, the kids’d finished their portions. They were all stuffed and just relaxing where they sat in the floor, Raine finally being the one to get up and start grabbing dishes. She’d shown signs of having developed diabetes as a younger child, so she’d decided to play it safe by heading off to check her sugar. Considering that she’d to head to the kitchen for that task, she figured she might as well kill two Birds with one Stone, as it were, which certainly helped her surrogate uncle.

After everyone else’d finished their lunch and was content to let it settle, Rob couldn’t help a laugh any more than his wife. Zep and Zeph’d insisted on trying small bites of their strombolis, which included the dipping sauce he’d made to go with them. It hadn’t taken long for both toddlersta practically paint their faces and mat up their hair with said sauce, Ember having done the same in her own daddy’s lap.

With everyone and their mess cleaned up a short while later, today’s guests started heading out to their rental cars. They’d all brought various presents for today’s birthday girl, but they’d left them outside to start with since there were obviously gonna be a lotta them. In fact, it wasn’t long before that was proven when half the living room was piled almost up to the ceiling with various presents. Some were in gift bags, others were in boxes wrapped with brightly-colored and interestingly-patterned wrapping papers. Aerin was already rubbing her hands together in anticipation, ’cuz she was as ready to dive into the pile as a child a third her age so she could see what she’d gotten.

But before she could even grab the first present, Rob chuckled and said there was still something else she was forgetting about. The young woman cocked a brow at him, causing him to grin as he reminded her that no birthday party was complete without _some_ kinda cake. He was quick to say that it didn’t necessarily have to be cut right off the bat, ’cuz he knew that everyone might still be a lil too full from lunch, but it at least needed to be shown off.

Not another word was said as he headed to the garage, which was really the only place he coulda hidden the custom-designed Creation. Easily three or four feet tall from its base all the way to its very tip, he knew it was right up his wife’s alley as he started wheeling it into the back hall. After all, it depicted several of the stained-glass scenes from the very Beginning and very End of her favorite Disney movie, _Beauty and the Beast_. Not only that, but it included the four main characters besides Belle and the man who’d become her husband, Prince Adam. But it was the cased Rose that–whether anyone else agreed or not–was at the forefront of the Disney interpretation of the story and topped the entirety of the cake that he considered the most beautiful part as he wheeled it into the living room on the cart it’d to be put on to be moved.

_“OhmiGoddess!”_ The young woman’s eyes all but popped outta her skull as she covered her no doubt gaping mouth with both hands. “Rob, ya hopelessly Romantic devil, you!”

“Like I said earlier, _buon compleanno, la mia Musica Strega,”_ he chuckled. Only once the cake cart was parked did he lean down to give her a kiss.

“Um, care to translate that?” Rikki asked, cocking a brow alongside several others.

“He said, _happy birthday, my Music Witch,”_ Zach answered with a laugh. “He just said it in Italian, not English.”

“I could bust your butt for giving that one away, son!” the Silver Fox laughed as he straightened. “Then again, I’m more concerned with these tears running down my wife’s face.”

Aerin couldn’t help a laugh of her own as she swiped away several, her husband gently thumbing away the rest. “What can I say? This is almost too beautiful to wanna cut, and proves how well ya know me!”

“Gods, I _hope_ I know ya pretty well after three Years!” Rob said. “Well enough to know ya won’t be able to resist cutting it once I tell ya that it’s Chocolate.”

“Ya big-dicked, Neanderthal jerk!” she laughed, gently smacking his chest. “Ya know Chocolate’s my one true weakness when ya don’t count Zep and Zeph!”

“Makes it all the easier to tease ya with it since you’ll do anything for it!” the Silver Fox shot back with a grin of his own.

Aerin didn’t get a chanceta retort with anything else before he kissed her again, then swiped her Zippo so he could light the Candles that’d been stuck in what looked like a Castle turret next to Cogsworth and Chip. The two simple Candles–which gave away her age of thirty Years old–flared to Life within seconds of the Flame being held to their wicks.

The entirety of the gathered group once again sang _Happy Birthday_ to her before she was allowed to make her Wish. Rob was pretty sure that the only thing she’d bother Wishing for was the continued Health, Happiness, and safety of her family, including his older kids. He’d learned very early on that she wasn’t much of a materialistic woman, and that she appreciated the lil things in Life far more than most folks. As long as her friends and family were safe, healthy, and happy, and all her basic needs–like food and shelter–were met, she didn’t seem to care about much else.

Once she’d blown out the Candles and they’d been pulled out to be laid aside for the moment, the Silver Fox reached up to the very top of the cake. As it turned out, the cased Rose that topped it was made outta plastic, so it was the only part of the cake that wasn’t edible. He’d wanted her to be able to keep it till the End of Time, if that was what she wanted, which was why he’d designed it like that. Everything else–even the quartet of characters two tiers down from that beautiful adornment–really was edible.

With the cake cut and plates passed out a short while later, the young woman settled in her husband’s lap all too happily. No other birthday’d ever been celebrated quite like this, nor had it ever been as meaningful to her as this one was. Then again, she’d really never been able to celebrate with anyone but a bunch of abusive pieces of shit that’d eventually abandon her for one reason or another. In comparison to her so-called family back in North Carolina, even the Kotzens meant more to her and made this Day all the more special. Still, she knew that there was an Elephant in the room to be addressed, whether that happened later that Eve or the next Day after she’d done a lil something special of her own.


	59. Fifty-Eight

“Time to start talking, man, ’cuz I think we’re all about ready to turn this kitchen into the _Friday Night Smackdown_ ring.”

Rob turned from grabbing a bottle outta the cabinet over the fridge, not the least bit surprised to see the trio of blondes that made up his now-former band. He’d known they were gonna call what his wife called a _Come-to-Goddess_ meeting on him, and there was no getting outta it now. At least they’d abided by his Wish that they not start showing their asses the Day previous and subsequently ruining said wife’s birthday. Still, he held up a finger before tossing the pill he’d grabbed into his mouth, quickly washing it down with his coffee before turning to head into the living room.

Once settled in his recliner, he simply waited for his former band to settle on the couch so they could get this show on the road, so to speak. As had been typical pretty much since this band’s inception, Bret was the one to take the lead in starting to grill him. Then again, if it hadn’t been him, it woulda been the drummer since he was the unofficial first mate, if one would.

“What the fuck gives with just quitting the band, not a word to any of us before ya did it?” he veritably exploded.

“Yeah, a heads-up woulda been nice, dude,” Rikki agreed, his expression bemused.

“Trust me, it wasn’t a decision made lightly, or on a whim,” the bassist assured them. “I didn’t really have a choice, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Whaddaya mean, man?” CC asked, his brow furrowing in concern.

“Remember how I seemed to keep getting sick on this last tour?” Rob countered.

All three blondes looked thoughtful, then their jaws dropped in shock.

“Ya didn’t actually have a recurrence, didja?” Bret asked, sounding flabbergasted.

“No, but I kept feeling like it was gonna happen, if the tour didn’t End soon,” he answered, shaking his head. “And all that shit outta Lacey and Heather at first didn’t help.”

None of them could bite back a wince as they remembered how he’d finally lost his temper on the former _Rock of Love_ stars.

“I’m not willing to go through that hell again, and if that means quitting the band…” Rob trailed off with a sigh, his expression saying all that he just couldn’t find words for as he reached for his mug.

“Hey, we wouldn’t ask ya to push yourself to that extreme, man,” the lead guitarist told him.

“I damn sure wouldn’t, ’cuz I’m scarred for Life ’cuz of what I saw and heard that Day,” Rikki agreed.

“Uh, am I gonna be stepping on any toes by asking what the hell you’re talking about?”

Looking over to where the door hiding the attic stairs was, they all saw the Kotzen family, who’d crashed in one of the actual guest rooms when their hotel reservations got fucked up at the last minute. Cocking his head as he thought about it, the bassist decided that he was willing to explain, but he was gonna keep himself censored. He always did unless someone specifically asked, especially if the drummer was present since he always had a hard Time dealing with his memories of that Day.

Settling on the Love seat with his wife next to him, Richie listened as he kept his explanation as censored as he possibly could. It still didn’t take the tallest blonde long to excuse himself with a violent shiver, Bret quick to follow him to make sure he’d be all right. That told more than anything just how horrifying the situation’d really been, considering that pretty much every man to be in a band was usually one tough cookie.

“Yeah, according to him, Nikki Sixx, and Aerin, it was far from pretty,” Rob chuckled. “I don’t exactly remember much, either ’cuz of the drugs or simply blocking it out.”

“I don’t fuckin’ blame ya, man,” he agreed with a wince. “Can’t say I wouldn’t block out the memories that weren’t stolen by the drugs, if it happened to me.”

“The rest of us agreed when it actually happened two Years ago,” the lead guitarist told him.

“So, I’m guessing ya live with the threat of a recurrence now?” Richie asked, cocking a brow at him.

“Unfortunately.” The bassist nodded as he sipped his mug again. “I honestly thought it was gonna happen, if I didn’t get of the road when I did, give or take.”

“But how could going on another tour make ya have a recurrence?” his daughter, August, queried.

“’Cuz it was caused by severe dehydration the last Time,” he answered. “Basically made me constipated to the point of things shearing off my pelvic wall when they shouldn’t have from trying to go.”

Her eyes widened in shock before she looked up at her dad from where she sat at his feet.

“Ya know it can be a struggle to keep oneself healthy on the road,” the multi-instrumentalist chuckled. “How often do I manage to start a tour without getting sick pretty much on the first Day?”

“Almost never,” his wife, Julia, laughed.

“Then it standsta reason that any other touring musician’s at risk of having Health problems on the road, even if they’re normally healthy as a Horse,” Richie said.

Nodding his agreement, Rob admitted that he’d agreed to this tour for a few different reasons, his top one being that he just didn’t wanna give up what he loved. He honestly hadn’t known whether he was even physically capable of touring after his rectal prolapse–after all, this tour woulda happened the Year previous, if it weren’t for that and his wife’s pregnancy resulting from the aftermath. There was only one way to find out, and that was by simply giving it an honest shot and seeing how the attempt Ended up going.

Since he’d quickly realized that he wasn’t gonna be able to tour anymore, the bassist’d made the one decision he’d never wanted to. Five Years ago, he mighta just taken his chances and possibly wound up shipped home to Zach and Zoe in a Pine box. But now that he was happily attached and had twin toddlers, he wasn’t willing to take those kinda risks anymore. That didn’t mean he didn’t still love the band and think of the guys as some of his best friends–he thought of it more so as setting them free to continue, if that’s what they choseta do. After all, they wouldn’t be able to do that, if they were dragging him behind them like a dead Elephant, so to speak, and he didn’t want that.

CC nodded his agreement as the other pair of blondes Returned, Aerin on their heels with a sleepily-babbling baby on each hip. As she settled said babies in their daddy’s lap, he said that they could all understand why he’d made the decision that he did. In fact, they could all appreciate that he was keeping their Wishes for the Future in mind by choosing not to hold them back, or force them into converting the band to studio-only. They just Wished he’d given them a heads-up so his announcement wouldn’t have felt like a barrel of bricks landing on their heads when they found out.

“Trust me, guys–I wanted to,” Rob said, snuggling his babies against his chest. “But I also know all of y’all prolly better than anyone short of our collective parents, dead and alive.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” the front man queried, his perpetually-pursed lips somehow pursing even more.

“That y’all prolly woulda tried to talk me outta it by trying to convince me to give it one more shot just to be sure this wasn’t just a fluke or something,” he answered.

“Well, you’re not exactly wrong,” CC admitted. “I mean, we’ve survived so much worse–the band’s survived having lead guitarists that weren’t me.”

They all let out a collective chuckle as his eyes cut toward Richie.

“He’s a point, dude,” Rikki agreed. “Then again, if even getting too dehydrated from mowing the yard could cause a recurrence, we mighta just accepted it without a fight.”

“Well, after the stress of this last tour and still not feeling my best till a week after I got home, I didn’t wanna take my chances with y’all trying to Change my mind,” the bassist told them. “And I spent a month waffling on whether I actually wanted to quit, then whether or not to tell y’all _before_ that interview, before I ever did it.”

“Damn, no Wonder they’re ready to rip your balls off!” the multi-instrumentalist laughed as Aerin Returned with her own mug.

“Yeah, and I was pretty much expecting that when I decided on letting them find out when the rest of the World did,” Rob chuckled. “I just basically threatened to loose my wife on them, if they ruined her birthday with that shit.”

Said wife shot them a grin that was equal parts sleepy and Impish before sipping her own mug.

“She’s a sweetheart with a heart of Silver the size of Alaska, but pissing her off generally ain’t a man’s smartest idea,” he said.

“Not when I like dishing out some CBT as much as I like watching it and I’m generally quite the twisted sadist, too,” Aerin snickered.

None of them could help a laugh, which was quickly cut off by a disheveled Ash suddenly ushering his own wife and daughter into the living room. Considering that the Purdys’d gone home after the festivities were over, it was more than a bit of a surprise for him to let himself in with such a worried look on his face. That just made the young woman’s maternal instincts ratchet up since she felt like there was trouble on the horizon, her own husband tightening his grip on Zep and Zeph.

Before she could even question her would-be brother about what was going on, a furious pounding erupted on the front door. Everybody in the room jumped as it startled them, but Aerin was quick to rise with a deep, guttural growl when they heard what sounded like the voice of a demon through the Mahogany. None of them tried to stop her from stomping off to answer the door, even when she paused long enough to grab her favorite dagger off the mantel. Either they knew she wouldn’t use it without a damn good reason, or they were too scared she’d turn it on them, depending on who one was talking about.

Wrenching open the door with another growl that sounded more like a snarl, Aerin wasn’t surprised by who she found on her front stoop. She’d never wanted to actually meet this particular sum-bitch, and she wasn’t about to act like she ever had. He was a threat to be annihilated, as far as she was concerned, and she wouldn’t mince any words when she told him so.

“Da fuq do you want, Ballsack?” the young woman snarled, not the slightest bit afraid of the man who towered over a foot taller than her.

“Who the fuck’re you?” Andy countered, his expression shifting to surprise when he realized that it wasn’t his own former bassist who’d answered.

“Your worst fuckin’ nightmare come to Life,” she growled, backing him down the front walk like a Cat stalking a Mouse.

“I’m here to talk to Ashley,” the blue-eyed man said, throwing up his hands as he backed away.

“Over my cold, dead body!” Aerin snapped. “If he wanted to talk to your sorry, pathetic excuse of a human being Self, he wouldn’t have sought refuge at my house!”

He intelligently continued backing up till he reached the part of the driveway that looped around a massive planter.

“Hey!” A woman she recognized all too well made to step outta the car she was backing him toward.

“Put one foot on my Land, Simms, and so help me Goddess, every man in that house’ll have to team up to hold me back!” the young woman warned her, emphasizing her words by pointing at her with her sheathed dagger.

Juliet’s eyes widened as she stared at her, her foot hovering just a couple inches off the ground.

“Now, Ballsack, you’re gonna get back in that car and leave, never to Return,” she snarled, her own eyes still locked on him. “’Cuz trust and believe, honey child, even my husband’s best friend knows better than to fuck with me once the sharp, pointy objects come out to play.”

“You’re fuckin’ crazy!” the young front man’s wife snapped as she snapped outta her shock.

“Why, yes–yes, I am,” Aerin retorted, a sinister grin suddenly splitting her face. “I don’t need the paperwork to prove I ain’t right in the head–I think marrying a rock star speaks for that well enough.”

Both their eyes widened again when they looked behind her, the entirety of Poison–even Richie–as well as Zach and Vallon stepped out to gather around the front walkway. Judging by their expressions–which ranged from neutral to bemused back down to downright homicidal–they were more than ready to back this girl up, if she needed it. However, it was pretty obvious that they all knew not to intervene till either she explicitly asked for assistance, or it became obvious that she was simply too overwhelmed with fighting off her opponents.

In being the man of the house, Rob joined his wife, his big hands balled into fists that somehow seemed even bigger. Looking Andy dead in the eye, he warned him that he wouldn’t worry about calling the cops, if he dared show his face here again. He’d let the coroner handle picking up his wife’s morbid artwork, if anything even remained of him by the Time she decided she was done.

Audibly gulping as he glanced down at the knife-wielding shrimp of a woman, he swore he wouldn’t bother coming back here. That didn’t mean he was gonna give up on talking to Ash, but he at least valued his Life enough to not show up here again anytime soon. In fact, he completely ignored his own wife suddenly demanding that he drag said younger bassist out here by his hair and finish the business he had with him. Whether he was scared of her or not paled in comparison to how terrified he was of Aerin, who snarled at him again. But he wasn’t expecting her final words as he climbed back into his rental to End with something that sounded suspiciously like another way of saying _Amen._

Watching him wheel the car around the driveway-Ending loop before he quite literally peeled out, Rob couldn’t help a Dark laugh. His wife’s Curse couldn’t have been better, nor aimed at a better person, as it were, and he found it highly amusing. The fact that he knew the kinda Power she wielded from having felt its good side for himself made her saying _What was brought down on he be Returned, but times three. Head to toe, skin and nerve, may ye get exactly what ye deserve–may the full horror of thine actions be Revealed to thee! As above, so below–as I Will it, so mote it be_ just made it all the more amusing to him. He’d absolutely no doubt that that young buck was now in for a seriously rude Awakening he’d never be able to truly fathom for everything he’d ever done to any of his former band mates, especially Ash.

Before they could even turn to head back into the house, he spotted his daughter’s car as Zoe Returned, which was a bit of a surprise. She normally wasn’t up earlier than he was, but she’d obviously been up for a while, if she’d snuck out to run an errand without him hearing her. Even Aerin seemed surprised, despite the fact that she was still obviously boiling with Rage as the other young woman stepped outta her car once it was parked, her expression turning wary. Still, she closed the driver’s door and moved to get something outta her back seat, her voice a bit tight as she at least attempted to crack a joke.

“Well, judging by everybody’s expressions, I’d say I got back with the perfect stepmama temper defuser at just the right Time.”


	60. Fifty-Nine

Aerin looked almost unnaturally curious as her stepdaughter headed into the house with a mischievous giggle, her hands holding the cardboard box she carried tightly. Said box seemed to be wiggling of its own accord, which suggested that whatever was in it was quite literally alive. Course, one could deduce that much just by seeing the obvious Air holes that’d been cut into the sides so that whatever was in there wouldn’t suffocate.

In the living room, Zoe knelt down so she could set the box in the floor, and her stepmother’s eyes widened as she suddenly heard a Sound she was all too familiar with. Scrambling over, she knelt down next to the younger woman, everyone else cocking their brows curiously as she started pulling open the flaps that were tucked into each other to hold them closed. Those same peoples’ eyes widened as they watched a pair of lil black heads topped by pointy ears pop up curiously, her heart seemingly melting and exploding simultaneously as she took in their equally black faces.

“Babeh floofs!” she said, barely biting back a squeal as she picked up the owners of those heads, which turned out to be a pair of black kittens.

“I figured I couldn’t go wrong with kittens as a birthday present,” her stepdaughter laughed, careful to keep her volume down. “Well, technically _late_ birthday present now, but not my fault.”

“Whyddaya say that, sis?” Zach asked curiously.

“Remember that chick I met at work, Tina?” Zoe countered.

He and their dad both nodded as they watched.

“Her Cat’d a litter of kittens back in June,” the youngest woman explained. “Said she was just gonna take them all to the shelter, and I knew Aerin’d kill me, if she found out that I let her do that.”

Aerin looked up from the kittens snuggled against her breasts, who were purring up a Storm, her own brow cocked.

“Closest no-kill’s up near Kingsport, and she refused to drive that far,” she explained.

“Damn right, I’d kill ya, if ya sentenced such Innocenceta a Fate like that!” her stepmother spat.

“Hence why I nabbed those two since I rememberedja saying thatcha love Cats, then took the othersta that no-kill shelter,” Zoe chuckled.

Looking up at her husband, the young woman wore an Impish grin of her own. “Sorry, hon, but I don’t love ya anymore.”

“What!?” Rob asked, playing along since he already knew she was joking.

“These two just stole my heart and all the Luz that comes with it,” Aerin laughed, promptly burying her face between their heads.

The kittens in her arms mewed and seemed to try hugging her neck, even after she lifted her head again.

“Fuck, we gots some stocking up to do,” she said, her grip tightening marginally as her eyes rolled back in her head.

Even Ash was surprised when she sneezed so hard, she curled around the kittens and nearly head-butted her knees. “Jesus Christ, sis!”

Laughing as she righted herself as her husband knelt down next to her, the young woman said that she’d known better, but did it, anywhore. As it turned out, she’d been allergic to Cats–and most likely just furry critters, in general–her entire Life like she’d always been allergic to pollen. She didn’t let that stop her from having kittens and Cats, though, since it wasn’t like she needed an Epi-pen or anything to keep said allergy from killing her with an acute case of anaphylaxis or something.

As she settled the kittens back in their box for now, she turned her attention back to her stepdaughter so she could be briefed on them. Zoe was happy to tell her that the kittens–one of each gender, as it turned out–had already been spayed and neutered, respectively. They’d also already gotten all their shots, but they weren’t quite old enough to be declawed, if she was even gonna go that route. It’d be another couple months before they reached the cut-off age, so they’d have to keep an eye on Zep and Zeph when they were around them to make sure they didn’t get hurt.

Since she wasn’t about to let even her husband tell her no to having pets, Aerin picked up the kittens’ box, which made them mew adorably. As she headed toward the master suite, she said she was gonna think on possible names while stocking up on supplies for them. No doubt they’d be as unconventional as the names of her actual babies, especially when compared to names typically given to pets. Then again, she was so far left of normal that been the blondes of Poison didn’t expect anything less outta her at this point. In fact, they’d all be shocked veritably shitless, if she actually gave her pets–even something like a Hermit Crab–a relatively normal name, if they were honest.

With a grin stretching her face, the young woman Returned with her keys after settling her new fur-babies in a nest of fuzzy blankets she rarely used in her tub. Not even Rob was surprised when she dragged Aidan up to her feet, said ginger laughing as she allowed it. The pair of women gave their men a quick, but thorough kiss before heading out the front door, their babies safe with said men in their absence.

“So, what’re ya thinking about naming the floofs?”

Aerin laughed as she aimed her truck for the nearest Petsmart, which was roughly ten-to-fifteen miles up the road outside Farragut. She loved that her best friend was just as wild and crazy, yet silly and loving as she was in her own right unless she was pissed. Combined with their mutual Love of eighties hair bands and fan-fiction, no doubt that was why they’d formed such a close bond that’d lasted nearly half a decade without showing any signs of slowing down.

“I’m kinda thinking sticking with a Zodiac theme,” she answered, heading for the exit ramp she needed.

“How so?” Aidan asked curiously.

“Well, depending on which Zodiac system ya subscribe to, they’re either Geminis or Cancers,” the young woman explained. “I could go with something Celestial in general, or something related specifically to one or both of those signs.”

“Huh, sounds like that could get interesting, even for you,” she mused.

“I could pick names from the Stones associated with their Zodiac signs, or the Elements that rule ’em,” Aerin chuckled. “Then again, I could go with the names of random Constellations, or ones that border Gemini and/or Cancer.”

“But how couldja do that?” the ginger asked, looking perplexed.

“I kinda like Lyra and Orion,” she answered with a laugh. “Gotta look into the Constellations bordering Gemini and Cancer, though.”

“I gotta admit, Lyra and Orion sound pretty cool,” Aidan laughed.

“We’ll see, ’cuz I’ma let even shit like the collars I get ’em Influence me,” the young woman told her.

Once she was parked outside Petsmart, Aerin double-checked to make sure that she’d everything that’d be needed before they climbed out. With her truck locked up, they headed into the store so they could both grab a cart on their way deeper inside the building. After all, there was gonna be a lot to get, considering she didn’t already have Cats or leftovers from previous pets, as well as two to shop for.

The first place she headed was the Cat food section, where she quickly decided that she wasn’t gonna be like her Birth Creature in yet another way. Instead of skimping and going with the cheapest thing on the shelf, she decided that she was gonna target optimal nutrition for her lil fur-babies. Aidan seemed a hair surprised when she grabbed two five-pound bags of Chicken-flavored Blue Wilderness kitten food and settled them in her cart. Once she explained her reasoning, though, her oft-twisted train of Thought made perfect senseta her best friend, who actually decided to go over her own husband’s head for their Cat, Sparrow.

After that came treats, which Aerin insisted be a different flavor from the kittens’ normal food, and she’d a solid reason behind that. Like with her actual babies, she wanted them to have a variety, which’d also help her figure out what they liked. For that reason, she snagged a couple bags of the soft, moist treats that were supposed to be Chicken-and-Salmon flavored. Giving it a moment’s Thought, she also decided on a container of crunchy treats that were supposed to be strictly Salmon-flavored.

Next came the typical supplies like a litter box, the litter to go in it, and bowls for their food and Water so she wouldn’t have to give up any outta her own cabinet. The young woman made sure to go with options designed to cut down on as much mess as possible, especially with the litter box. She didn’t wanna have to sweep more than necessary, and should he be the one stuck with it, she figured Rob’d like essentially changing the litter box the same way he’d change the kitchen trash. Besides, even Aidan agreed that–aside from having to squat down or bend over–that kinda option’d no doubt be friendlier to her arthritis, which already gave her hell more often than not on a good Day.

“So, what’s next on the list?” she asked.

“Cat Trees, or something along those lines,” Aerin answered. “’Cuz I might love them already, but I’ll kill the adorable lil fiends, if they Destroy my furniture and curtains.”

“I feel ya,” the ginger laughed. “Ash and I still have to occasionally bust out the kitty-gun on Sparrow.”

“Well, I also don’t want my fur-babies trying to get in the crib with Zep and Zeph,” she said. “They don’t need to be scratching them in their sleep, or smuffocating them ’cuz they smelled the milk on their breath.”

“Good point,” Aidan agreed. “Never really had that problem with Sparrow and Ember, though, so I didn’t even think about it.”

“Kat said she’d to get rid of a Cat shortly before I was born, ’cuz he wouldn’t stay outta my crib, even while she was still pregnant,” the young woman chuckled. “I think she said his name was Snapper, but whatever it was, I know he wound up with my godparents.”

“No Wonder you’d think of something like that and I wouldn’t,” she mused.

“And I’d prefer to get a lil kitty-Cave or something, just on the off-chance we let the lil fiends sleep in the master suite,” Aerin continued. “Besides, it’ll give them a placeta hide that _ain’t_ my damn recycling pile!”

The ginger couldn’t help laughing, ’cuz she knew her frustration all too well, and not just ’cuz of the black Cat her husband had when they met. It seemed that every Cat she’d ever been near loved hiding in empty cardboard boxes, which could be both troublesome and dangerous. Were it not for her friend letting out her inner Fire-bug by burning her cardboard, she wouldn’t think anything of her new kittens hiding and playing in the recycling pile, even if it drove her nuts.

After picking out two different Cat Trees–one for upstairs in the living room, another for down in the basement–the pair headed off to find suitable collars. No matter what design they sported, the young woman insisted they be breakaway collars for safety reasons. She didn’t want them getting strangled due to their collars getting stuck on something and them being unable to free themselves.

It didn’t take more than two seconds of perusing the side counter in front of them before she let out a delighted gasp. As she stepped back, Aerin held a Dark blue kitten collar that sported a design of Suns, Moons, and Stars in a Golden-yellow in one hand. In her other, there was a black kitten collar that sported a Moons-and-Stars motif in what appeared to be Silver. Both were breakaway collars, just like she’d wanted them to be, and there were even bigger versions meant for full-grown Cats.

“The black one’s the exact same one Ash bought for Sparrow when he first got her!” Aidan laughed when she saw it.

“He’s just as obsessed with Space, just for different reasons,” the young woman snickered.

“I think we both know he’s more in Love with the Stars, whereas you’re a total Selenophile unless we’re talking about Constellations,” she chuckled.

“Same thing, different reasons, just like I said,” Aerin retorted, sticking her tongue out at her. “But these’re _soooo_ going home with me for Lyra and Orion.”

“Hey, your floofs, your choice,” the ginger told her. “And officially decided on names, huh?”

“I can be pretty decisive when I wanna,” she said. “Names’re usually one thing my inner Air Witch _doesn’t_ get her talons into.”

“Too well I know it, based on your stories,” Aidan agreed.

Now that they’d nabbed the essentials for Cats and kittens alike, the pair decided it was Time to head up front to the registers. There was already quite a bit of money quite literally sitting in their carts, and neither thought it wiseta spend more than they were no doubt gonna, if it wasn’t necessary. Granted, that reminded Aerin that she was no doubt to need flea and tick treatments, even though she didn’t Intend her kittensta be so much as indoor/outdoor, let alone strictly outdoor.

Up at the register, the ginger insisted on buying half of everything for her as a sorta belated birthday present, her tone leaving no room for argument. Even though she knew she didn’t have to, she still wanted to since Ash’d been the one to buy the majority of her actual birthday presents. It’d make her feel at least a bit more even with said husband on that score, and besides, it’d free up more money for other things.

Before they headed back to her house, the young woman decided to make a pit stop at the Michaels all of half a mile down the parking lot. While she despised the company she’d once busted her ass and worsened her arthritis for, going there was quicker and easier than heading to Walmart. The latter store usually carrying the same products for cheaper couldn’t even Change her mind since she was already anxiousta get back home. After all, by the Time they got all the new kitty supplies inside and set up, she was gonna be eating a dose of at least her prescription Aleve. On second Thought, it might just be a dose of Percocet, if the menfolk didn’t come out to help with things like the Cat Trees.

Their stop at Michaels saw them walking out with various jewelery-making supplies for both of them, although for different reasons. It was another mutual interest of theirs, but this Time, Aidan wasn’t entirely sure what was brewing in her friend’s twisted mind. Laughing as they climbed back into her truck again, she assured her that she’d see what she was up to, if they stayed long enough. She Intended to get all the major stuff set up before diving into her idea, ’cuz this was something that could wait till that Night after babies of all species were abed, if it came right down to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check the Wattpad version for pics of teh floofs and the collars Aerin decided on, if you're interested!  
> ~Firefly


	61. Sixty

Later that Eve, after getting all things kitty set up and stored where they wouldn’t make a mess, if it was something like their food, everybody was settled in the living room. The kittens’d enjoyed all the attention showered on them by even the trio of toddlers, who giggled hysterically every Time they’d bat at their lil hands. At the moment, they were curled up on the Cat Tree designated for the living room, their limbs wrapped around each other so they appeared to be a single lump of purring black fur.

Rob was watching his wife Intently as she knelt next to the coffee table, her jewelry supplies scattered out across the majority of its Surface. Not only had she started pulling apart one of the Pagan Charm bracelets she’d bought on a whim shortly after they met, but she’d what looked like a couple rocks in the box that housed her jewelry pliers and whatnot. He knew better than to ask what on Earth she was doing, that she’d tell the entire group when she was damn good and ready to, so he’d merely contented himself with rocking Zep and Zeph to sleep since it’d been edging on their bedtime.

It wasn’t more than an hour before Aerin’d affixed two of the Charms from her bracelet onto each collar, but none of them could tell what they were. With that done, she’d started wrapping part of the insanely-thick jewelry wire she’d bought around each of the rocks she’d brought out. They couldn’t have been much bigger than her pinky nail, which made them the same size as the Charms, if not smaller.

“Dear Goddess, I ask of thee, protect she who means everything to me,” she murmured, a look of serious concentration on her face as she held Lyra’s collar between her palms. “As above, so below–as I Will it, so mote it be.”

Even Richie cocked a brow curiously as she laid it back down on the coffee table and picked up Orion’s, but he didn’t ask.

“Dear Goddess, I ask of thee, protect _he_ who means everything to me,” the young woman murmured, once again holding the collar between her palms. “As above, so below–as I Will it, so mote it be.”

“Uh, I’m not sure if I should even ask,” August said as she rose, both collars now in hand.

“Basically, think of it like giving them their own cross necklaces,” Aerin said, managing to pry the kittens apart so she could pick up the first.

“Wait, really?” the young woman’s stepmother asked.

“I’m Pagan, not Christian,” she chuckled, her kitten mewing indignantly as she gently pried its hind legs apart to see which one she’d picked up. “It’s a lil more complicated, but I’m starting to get a lil too tired to explain it right now.”

“Fair enough, ’cuz it’s definitely been a long Day,” Richie agreed. “I guess I’m just surprised that Rob doesn’t seem to care.”

“Trust me, knife-wielding crazy bitch or not, ya don’t argue with her on her Spirituality,” said bassist chuckled, looking up from rocking his babies as she tightened what he knew to be Lyra’s collar around her neck.

“Yeah, she’s definitely more than a bit of a crazy bitch sometimes,” Bret snickered.

“Only when I feel the need to be,” Aerin retorted, petting Lyra before picking up Orion as she shook and jingled her new decoration.

“But I don’t really care what she does for a couple different reasons,” Rob said. “Firstly, she usually doesn’t involve me beyond cooking for and celebrating the Sabbats in a clean way, and it makes her happy.”

“Happy wife, happy Life, right?” his younger counterpart asked with a chuckle.

Nodding, he admitted that there was plenty he coulda done differently with his ex-wife that mighta saved his marriage, which he refused to repeat now. But he’d seen how the Crystal Healing she’d mentioned the Night they met could help his current wife at Times. Whether she was having a restless Night or trying to find her _get-up-and-go_ on one of her bad Days, those Crystals’ effects could be subtle or drastic. In fact, the Crystal clusters strategically placed around the house made it feel more like a safe haven than his home during his first marriage.

He’d also seen how going outside to Ground and Center herself when she was too wound-up could help Aerin settle down and get back to her normal Self. As if that wasn’t enough, he’d seen her barely avoid a few wrecks when she left her Pentacle at home, but have no problems when she at least carried it in her pocket when she left to run errands.

“And it’s not like she ever told me anything akin to _Convert or die,”_ the older bassist chuckled.

“As I recall, I toldja to wear your cross, read your bible, and go to church–even though I hate it–if ya wanted to,” his wife said. “I also warnedja not to try getting me to do those things with ya, ’cuz it wasn’t like I was gonna force ya to wear a Pentacle, dance nekkid under the Moon, and read my Pagan books, if ya didn’t wanna.”

Rob merely smirked as most of the others looked surprised. “Maybe not word-for-word, but she really did tell me that–and on our very first date, too.”

“At least she didn’t try to hide it,” the multi-instrumentalist mused. “Being Pagan, I mean.”

“No more than she tried hiding her reasons for being so attracted to me,” he told him, gesturing to the mantel. “Starting with how much I resemble her deceased grandfather.”

Aidan chuckled as she took the twins, swearing she still didn’t see it as she headed off to settle them in their crib. Pretty much the only ones who knew what today was were herself, Ash, and the older bassist–which meant they were the only ones who knew what was about to happen. It was for that reason that he gently pulled her down into his lap, his younger counterpart rising so he could kneel next to his recliner. Not even his older kids’d seen this, but he’d brought up Bob Crosswhite when he did for a very specific reason.

Collapsing into her husband’s lap, the young woman buried her face against his chest with what could only be described as a Soul-shattering sob. Their guests’ jaws dropped as he simply held and rocked her, Silently encouraging her to just let it all out, rather than bottling it up. Never once did he try to shush her, and neither did her surrogate brother as he merely rubbed her back Soothingly. Even the ginger kept her mouth shut and simply grabbed her shoulder in a gentle grip once she Returned from putting even Ember to bed for the Night since it was getting late.

Once she managed to settle down and catch her breath, Aerin finally lifted her head to reveal a blotchy face, red-rimmed eyes, and a bit of a runny nose. The older bassist gently thumbed away the remains of her tears, Ash still rubbing her back as his wife grabbed a box of tissues for her. No one’d deny this was outta character for her, if they’d gotten to know her decently well, so those in the know weren’t surprised by the shocked looks.

Having gotten her settled so that even the kittens’d room to jump into her lap, Rob turned his attention back to all of his now-former band mates. Mostly for the Kotzens’ benefit since they didn’t know any of the story, he started at the very Beginning of what he’d learned over the last three Years. Not even how she’d broken down much the same way when he was in surgery a couple Years ago was left out as he simply snuggled her like a child. His explanation even included how she’d indulged in what they called her _Purge-Day Drinking_ when they first met, but hadn’t done so since. After all, she’d done it early a couple Years ago so she wouldn’t be drunk or hungover at their handfasting, then nursing after that.

“Yeah, can can see where doing that now might not be the best of ideas,” Rikki mused.

“Alcohol might metabolize faster than a lotta other stuff, but why take unnecessary chances?” the ginger asked with a chuckle.

“Hell, I did that enough by doing it right before the handfasting without realizing I was pregnant!” Aerin laughed.

“But it was the one Time, not on a constant basis,” she reminded her. “Hell, ya even refused to take your Percocet when ya needed it till ya popped, andja take it sparingly now.”

“Tell us about it,” Ash chuckled. “My back _still_ feels carrying her when Zach didn’t so Rob wouldn’t fuck up his neck.”

“At least _you_ didn’t have to push even a single Melon outta your crotch!” the young woman shot back with a grin.

“No, just the microscopic seed,” he retorted. “And I still can’t eat bacon after the price I paid for it, not even tiny bits on my salad!”

“At least you’ll never forget how even Rob’d that part worse than you,” she snickered, looking up to kiss said husband when he groaned miserably.

“Two Years later, and I can’t even so much as look at a pack of bacon without hauling ass for the nearest bathroom, or straight outside,” Rob chuckled. “And don’t even bother giving me Orange juice either, even though I’m from Florida and loving it’s in my DNA.”

Not even his older kids could help a short bout of laughter before the conversation turned serious once again.

“Knowing how hard her birthday, her grampa’s birthday, and his _Death-iversary_ all being back-to-back like that can be for her–well, there’s a reason why I insisted on handfasting on said _Death-iversary_ two Years ago,” the older bassist said, looking at his former band mates.

“If they’re all in a row like that, and just mentioning him on his birthday’ll make her lose her shit like she did in the waiting room that Day…” Rikki trailed off.

“Although, _Death-iversary’s_ a new one on us,” the multi-instrumentalist chuckled.

“Quicker and easier than saying _anniversary of one’s Death_ –which ain’t much of an anniversary, if ya ask me, when ya think about something like a handfasting or wedding anniversary,” Aerin pointed out.

None of them could even Begin to deny that she’d a very valid point, especially when those who knew remembered that the couple’s anniversary was the next Day. Those who hadn’t already known that were quick to put the pieces together, and it actually made even more senseta them. It gave them a way to differentiate between the good part that was special to them, and what they considered the bad part better observed during _Samhain_ a couple weeks from now.

But the entire group was in for a shock when a Serene smile crossed their faces and Rob looked up at the group spread out around his living room. Miracle of miracles, he’d managed to talk his wife into actually legally marrying him after what coulda very well been his final tour–and not ’cuz he’d decided to retire. However, true to her typical form, she refused to have some massive wedding where half their back yard was crowded with people she didn’t know, the other half turned into a parking lot. She was perfectly happy with simply trading rings and vows–again–at the county courthouse in front of the magistrate. After all, despite what Tenn law said, she doubted they’d accept having a Coven’s High Priest or Priestess as the officiant.

When the initial shock wore off, it was Bret who asked if they were both sure about such a thing, Ash wearing an equally serious look. Ever since his divorce upwards of twenty Years ago, the older bassist’d sworn he wouldn’t get married again unless on his Deathbed or something. His wife’d always sworn not even either of them being in that state, but of sound mind could get her to legally wed anyone, including him.

Even Aidan was surprised when not only did both halves of the couple nod, but said they’d already applied for and been issued their marriage license. Good for thirty Days in any county within the State of Tenn, they’d decided to wait till their handfasting anniversary for a couple different reasons. Firstly, it’d make remembering the date easier for both, especially Rob as he aged even more and his memory inevitably started failing worse. Secondly, all the people they’d otherwise wanna invite’d already be in Town for Aerin’s birthday and the anniversary party his older kids’d insisted on throwing them.

Realizing they were both deadly serious about this, the entire group of guests agreed to fight out who’d serve as witnesses at the courthouse for them. It was most likely gonna be the Purdys for the bride, the Rocketts for the groom, but it was more than a lil late at this point. Clearly, both bride and groom were starting to wilt from such a long and at least mentally, Emotionally exhausting Day. Even Aidan didn’t have to try very hard to convince them to head off to bed, given that they usually fought sleep till they passed out on the couch or something. Instead, the couple merely bid their _good-Nights_ and made sure their new pets were settled, then headed off to the master suite. Tomorrow was a big Day for anyone even remotely involved, and they needed to get as much sleep as they could before whimpering babies woke them for the Morn.

The next Morn, Rob’d officially decided that he wanted his older kidsta be his witnesses for his second, much smaller wedding. Ash and Aidan were serving as his wife’s witnesses, and since they were essentially her brother and sister-in-law, he felt it only fair to keep it confined to family-only. His only reason for not taking Zep and Zeph with them was ’cuz–at sixteen months old–he didn’t want them getting fussy for food or naptime and interrupting or otherwise delaying the proceedings.

As they were deciding on simple, yet slightly dressier attire than normal, Aerin’d almost worked herself into a bit of a meltdown. She hadn’t Changed her surname when they handfasted since they weren’t legally wed, but now she’d a choiceta make. Did she wanna keep her surname as it was, drop it and take her husband’s, or hyphenate them both so she wouldn’t have to choose?

Her reason for getting so worked-up over it was that, in a way, she felt it dishonoring and disrespectful toward her pappaw to simply drop it. Then again, other than him, no one else she shared that surname with–by blood _or_ marriage–did shit to Honor and respect him. When one thought about it like that, it was no Wonder she found that particular name shameful, and that part of her wanted to get rid of it while she could. But even the younger bassist could understand a part of her wanting to hang on to whatever she could of her beloved pappaw. She might have part of his DNA and things like a couple of his guitars, but they could be passed on only so far, much like his name.

Said beloved pappaw’d put in an appearance right in the living room, despite the Kotzens being present and able to see him, too. Gently grabbing her shoulders with a grip that felt as solid as the Day they’d visited his grave a couple Years ago, Bob Crosswhite’d given her a semi-stern look. As far as he was concerned, she’d already Honored him like no other family member had by giving her lil boy his given name, his twin sister technically named after their daddy. If she really wanted to drop a surname she found that shameful and assume that of her husband like a lotta women did when they got married, he wasn’t gonna consider it disrespectful. Hell, his own son–her uncle–brought more shame to that surname than she did, as did his own daughter, the bitch she was forced to call her mother in at least the biological sense.

Once reassured of that, the young woman’d no trouble making her decision, and no one who knew her was surprised by it. By the Time the small group got back within sight of the Dalls’ house, she’d signed her marriage certificate as _Aerin Elysia Kuykendall,_ officially dropping her maiden name. She swore that however they parted–whether by Death or divorce–she’d die bearing her husband’s surname before she’d take back her maiden name. Just the Thought of dying as anything but a proud Kuykendall at this point actually made her nauseous, she hated the vast majority of her family so badly.

But upon parking outside their house, the newlyweds were quick to realize that there was trouble to be dealt with before they could celebrate. Despite having sworn he’d never Return to this house, Andy’d apparently decided that he wasn’t backing down on talking to his former bassist. What made matters even worse was that Juliet was with him, apparently egging him on, and if there was anyone Aerin hated more than him, it was his wife. She hadn’t gotten a good feeling about the woman the first Time she’d ever seen a picture of her, and she didn’t get one that was any better now. In fact, she’d a theory on why they’d even shown up yesterday, let alone today–and if she was right, it was rooted in this woman’s greed. That just pissed her off even more as she climbed outta her truck, her husband and surrogate brother hot on her heels as she stormed up to where the rest of the guys were keeping them outside while Aidan locked said truck.

“Ya just don’t learn, do ya, Ballsack?” she growled as she stalked up behind the couple, who’d been arguing mostly with Rikki and surprisingly Richie.

Both of them whirled around, their eyes widening as they landed on her, then spotted Rob and Ash behind her.

“I know damn good and well I told y’all to get lost yesterday,” the young woman said, cracking her knuckles.

“I’m not giving up on talking to Ashley,” Andy retorted, crossing his arms. “And damn sure not ’cuz of a shrimp like you who just _thinks_ she’s scary.”

“I’ma take six big steps back, Rob,” Ash chuckled.

“So am I, ’cuz he just made a mistake,” the Silver Fox agreed, pausing only long enough to take his wife’s dress shirt when she took it off and tossed it behind her.

Before he could even utter a word, the younger front man found himself on his knees.

“Who’s the shrimp now, mother fucker?” Aerin snarled, grabbing his minimal hair at his nape and forcing him to look up at her as he groaned and cupped himself protectively.

“Ya bitch!” Juliet screeched, acting like she was gonna try to get her hand loose of his hair.

“Touch me, and watch how quick I scalp him like one of the Native tribes of South America would,” she snapped, tightening her already-tight grip.

“Argh!” he groaned as he was forced to tilt his head back. “Jules, back off before she rips my hair out!”

The sorry excuse of a woman clearly didn’t wanna, but she did as her husband demanded.

“Now, you’re gonna put on your listenin’ ears, and you’re gonna listen good,” Aerin snarled, looking him dead in the eye. “And I’ma let Ash speak his own piece, if only so neither of y’all can even try to call me a liar since you’d have a few too many gravesta dig to get rid of this number of witnesses.”

The others simply stood back as they nodded their agreement, Aidan looking torn between going on the Warpath and simply taking her best friend’s approach.

“I know what you’re wanting, Andy–and lemme tell ya, I’ll just as soon let Aerin castrate me as letcha have your way this Time,” Ash said as he stepped forward, then squatted down so they were level when she let go of his hair.

“Then what am I wanting?” the younger front man asked, his normally-Sky eyes narrowing.

“You’re wanting to get me back into the fold so Jake, Jinxx, and CC’ll Change their minds and come back to BVB,” he answered smoothly.

Andy actually looked surprised when he told him that, which made him chuckle dryly as he rolled his eyes.

“I’m not stupid, Andy,” the younger bassist said. “Just ’cuz I don’t comment publicly doesn’t mean I don’t still see your bullshit online. Besides, the others’ve managed to repair their rifts with me, so if I don’t see or hear about something on my own, they make sure to tell me so ya never get the Element of surprise.”

Rising back to his full height, which was only within an inch or so of Rob’s, Ash declared that he’d just as soon take Poison up on an offer to join them as rejoin BVB. However, presumptive as that sounded, he also made it clear that they’d have to do some serious sweet-talking and offer him a helluva contact, as it were, ’cuz he liked being his own boss too much. They’d prolly have better Luck convincing Richie to rejoin them, this Time as bassist instead of lead guitarist, and he honestly thought he’d wake up female quicker than even that’d happen.

Wrapping an arm around Aidan’s shoulders, he told him in no uncertain terms that he’d built a damn good Life for himself, and he wasn’t giving it up. Nothing could convince him to give up his wife and daughter, if nothing else, to Return to a Life where he was miserable and wanted to off himself more than he didn’t. He refused to be the next generation of man in his family who went out that way, and now that he didn’t even need the meds he’d been on upon moving to Tenn, he wasn’t making a U-turn. If that made him some kinda bad guy–well, he’d wear even _that_ label with Pride, if it meant his baby girl didn’t grow up fatherless like he did.

Aerin simply rolled her eyes as it was Juliet, not her husband, who took a stab at her by saying it was her that’d brainwashed and mind-fucked him into thinking that way. She couldn’t help but be amused, ’cuz as long as those who needed to knew the Truth, her opinion wasn’t worth half the shit she flushed down the toilet. In fact, her unfounded accusations made it hard for even the remains of Poison to bite back laughter as they listened.

“You’re delusional, Ashley!” she screeched. “This fat bitch’s brainwashedja into thinking stupid!”

“Whoa, take five big steps back,” Ash growled. “First of all, Aerin’s not fat–and even if she was, that’d just give those of us who do more to love.”

“Then howddaya explain the hellacious muffin top?” the spoiled, greedy bitch demanded.

“How ’bout something you’ll never experience at this rate, bitch? Pregnancy,” she told her, smirking.

Juliet’s eyes widened as she processed the dig she’d taken at her.

“Ya see, it’s not exactly easy for a woman with my frame combined with rheumatoid arthritista drop baby weight, especially after a twin pregnancy, without turning to anorexia and tape worms,” the young woman said.

“And I, for one, enjoy my wife being a lil on the pudgy side,” Rob dead-panned. “Feels better than trying to fuck a stick–which I’ve had more than my fair share of–and besides, she coulda aborted due to my age, alone.”

“TMI, Dad!” Zach laughed, much to everyone else’s amusement.

“Shut your cake-hole, boy, or I’ll tie ya down, tape your eyes open, and make ya watch next Time,” he retorted with a grin.

Turning their attention back to the unwelcome couple, he let his younger equivalent have the figurative reins again.

“Fat or skinny, Aerin’s helped me in ways that band could never Dream of doing,” he said. “She knows how it feelsta grow up fatherless, to think of your grampa as your daddy–and she knows at least part of the pain I still feel from losing mine.”

Aerin moved to grab him in a tight hug, allowing him to pull her and his wife against his sides.

“Hell, she’s the one who introduced me to Aidan,” the younger bassist revealed. “They were already friends when I caught her breaking into one of my old flips out in Nashville to escape a Tornado.”

Even Andy’s eyes widened at that revelation, his face turning a bit pink.

“If I hadn’t met Aerin, I wouldn’t have met my wife–and I damn sure wouldn’t have my baby girl,” Ash told him. “And you’re the one who’s delusional, if ya think I’m giving up that for a narcissistic Control-freak who tore his band to shreds ’cuz he was too focused on making a baby of his own when he, his wife, or both just simply weren’t cut out to be a parent.”

“Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ve a wedding to celebrate,” his would-be sister told them. “And that’s a celebration you’re _definitely_ not invited to since I’m the bride and my groom knows better than to argue with me on that.”

Rob chuckled as he stole her away from Ash and gently pulled her against him so their fronts were flush, allowing him to lean down and kiss her. After straightening, he locked eyes with the younger front man as he pushed himself to his feet, a hard look to his normally bright, shining eyes. He made it clear that getting snipped was his own idea and choice, but he wasn’t giving her reason to cut his nuts off entirely. Besides, he didn’t like his or his wife’s Energy, and he didn’t want it essentially infecting what amounted to their wedding reception any more than he wanted them upsetting his bride.

It seemed like the Biersacks wanted to argue the point at first, only to gasp as they noticed another figure behind the couples that hadn’t been there before. Turning, they saw Bob Crosswhite leaning back against his granddaughter’s truck, an abnormally cold look on his semi-transparent face. Pushing away from said vehicle, he moved so he was chest-to-belly with the much taller young man as he stared him down.

Even the younger bassist snickered as the Spirit told him to get lost, or he’d show him what Hell on Earth really was for upsetting his granddaughter since this was already a hard enough Time of Year for her. After all, as a Spirit, he could go anywhere in the World that he pleased since he was Earthbound, especially if he’d some sorta unfinished business. He considered exacting Revenge on Aerin’s behalf a perfect case of unfinished business–and he fought just as dirty in Death as he always had in Life. That combined with the cold look on his face, the sadistic glint in his eyes, had the unwelcome couple fleeing as if they were in a horror movie with the homicidal main character on their heels.

Laughing as they turned to head inside, the newlyweds thanked him for his unconventional approach to getting rid of the unwanted. They said that he hadn’t had to, ’cuz they coulda managed on their own, but it was still appreciated all the same by even their friends. Bob simply chuckled, reminding Aerin of a saying she’d once read online as he hugged and congratulated her, then her husband. That saying was that sometimes, the Dead looked out for ya more than the Living, and that was certainly true in his case. Even still, he simply smiled as he waved them off to celebrate with a reminder not to swing from any chandeliers before it was all said and done.


	62. Sixty-One

Rob woke to a sensation he didn’t often experience the next Morn, which was a bit of a surprise for him like it always was. Feeling a pair of thighs clamping down on his hips as someone’s weight lowered itself into his lap, what was obviously a woman’s moist warmth wrapping around his shaft, told him exactly who it was. He kept his volume down as he moaned on purpose, but he wasn’t the least bit disappointed when he cracked open his eyes and looked up to see his beautiful, disheveled wife.

Aerin didn’t normally ride him during sex ’cuz of her arthritis, which’d left her hips in even worse condition than when they’d first met. However, there were occasions that she could tolerate this particular position, but those occasions were kinda like blow-jobs for him. They were usually reserved for special occasions and used as a treat, or they’d just be a surprise when she got a Wild Hare up her ass.

The Silver Fox didn’t exactly care which category this occasion technically fell under as he gently gripped her hips and helped her find a rhythm. Not only was he Intent on enjoying waking up to such a surprise, but he was pretty sure he knew why she’d decided on this position. What they’d called his _bum knee’d_ been hurting bad enough to make him beg for one of her Percocets just to sleep once they were ready for bed. He tried to avoid taking narcotics as much as she did ’cuz he didn’t like how they made him feel, so his family and friends always knew he was in some serious pain when he actually wanted one. But other than laying on their sides so he could drape that particular leg over her, this was the only position that’d keep pressure off his knee.

Following what could essentially be called a _good-Morn_ romp, the couple started to get up so they could start their Day. Unfortunately, Rob was quick to realize that he wasn’t going anywhere–not even to the bathroom–under his own power. Almost as soon as he’d tried to put weight on his left leg, his knee’d started to buckle and nearly sent him down to the floor. Luckily, the young woman was able to brace herself so he wouldn’t knock her down and managed to catch him, so they’d been able to avoid any serious injuries. But that meant he was stuck waiting on the edge of his bed while she went to get his older son to help get him on his feet.

“Morn, Richie,” Aerin said as she entered the kitchen after grabbing her robe.

“Morn, Aerin,” the multi-instrumentalist responded, glancing over his shoulder from making himself coffee. “Checking on the boogers, or do ya always get up this early?”

“Actually, I’m off to grab Zach,” she chuckled. “Kinda need him before somebody gets hurt, or Rob gets ornery from being stuck in bed.”

“He got called into work for something,” Richie said, turning to actually face her. “Something about an overnight break-in that he’d to deal with since he’s the manager.”

“Fuck,” the young woman hissed. “Guess I’ma have to get one of the other guys up, ’cuz I’m not getting Rob on his feet by myself and I know it.”

“I can give ya a hand since I’m up,” he offered.

“Depends on how picky he decidesta be since he usually won’t let just anyone help him,” Aerin said. “Then again, he might have to piss too badly to care since he hasn’t even been able to manage that yet.”

“Only one way to find out,” the multi-instrumentalist told her, gesturing for her to lead the way.

Nodding, she led him over to their bedroom door, which she peeked around before daring to open it entirely to head in. She’d left her husband completely nekkid, so she didn’t wanna embarrass him by just walking in with anyone before he was covered. Luckily, he’d managed to get last Night’s boxers on without even getting up, so while he wasn’t fully dressed, he was at least somewhat decent.

Rob was surprised to find out that his older son was unavailable at the moment, and that his former band mate of thirty Years’d volunteered to help him instead. He admitted that he’d normally try to fight letting Richie help him, but his only other choice was pissing in a milk jug or something. As it was, he was barely gonna be able to hold it till he got to the toilet, which was what’d made him at least try to get his boxers on. If not for knowing that and that he’d need help getting even shorts on, he’d have insisted she go get one of his blonde former band matesta help him.

“Trust me, I know the feeling,” he chuckled. “I wouldn’t want just anyone seeing me nekkid, or helping me do something I’m normally capable of on my own.”

“Which’s what makes me glad I’m finally going through with a knee replacement soon,” the Silver Fox grumbled as he moved to stand in front of him.

“Just couldn’t get a closer surgery date?” Richie asked, gently grabbing him under his arms once he’d grabbed his shoulders.

“Nah, I just refuseta be laid up on my own birthday,” he chuckled.

“Oh, yeah–I forgot it was in early-November since we haven’t exactly kept in touch,” the multi-instrumentalist admitted.

“November second, to be specific,” Rob told him. “I figure I can deal with it till even the third so I’m not laid up and whacked out on painkillers through it, Aerin’s birthday, and our anniversary.”

“I can’t say I blame ya and be telling the Truth, even if I think you’re being a lil on the stubborn and ridiculous side,” he laughed.

“Normally, I’d take offenseta that, but I know you’re right,” the Silver Fox said. “Now, get me up from here before I piss the bed–and be ready to get on my left side!”

Nodding, Richie gave him a three-count before even trying to pull him up and a step or two forward so he’d be ready for it. He still couldn’t help a groan, which was followed by a short yelp once he was on his feet, considering how bad his knee was hurting. Luckily, the multi-instrumentalist managed not to drop him as he moved to his left side, an arm wrapping around his waist as he wrapped one of his own around the younger man’s shoulders.

In the master bathroom, Rob managed to nudge him toward the left side of the tub that Centered in front of the room’s double doors. Since there wasn’t enough room for both of them in the Water closet and he could lean on the walls, he managed that part on his own. He just told him to be ready for after he’d washed his hands at the sink directly across from said Water closet, which was normally his wife’s.

Back in the bedroom once he was done, Aerin was already waiting with clothes that’d make subsequent bathroom trips easier later on that Day. The Silver Fox continued letting his mostly-brunette former band mate help steady him as she knelt down, which allowed him to step into the shorts. It was then that she pulled them up far enough for him to finish the job one-handed, then gently grabbed his hipsta pull herself back up. The multi-instrumentalist still reached down to give her a hand, not wanting any of them to wind up on the floor ’cuz they lost their balance, or her attempt caused her husband to fall from his knee buckling.

“Just get me to my recliner,” he told him once they were in the back hall that led to the kitchen.

“All right,” Richie agreed, readjusting his grip slightly.

“Aerin’ll worry about my coffee since she knows how I like it,” the Silver Fox said, wincing as he limped toward the living room.

“I should hope I do by now, _l’amore,”_ she chuckled. “It’s only been three Years since we met, after all.”

“In that case–nah, ya dunno me or my preferences at all,” Rob said, sarcasm lacing his voice, even as he grinned.

“Daddy, what happened?”

Looking up from his feet to avoid tripping over any toys, he saw Zoe’d just come outta her room with the twins on her hips. “Ah, just about busted my ass when I first tried to get up.”

“Your knee’s still acting up that bad?” she asked.

“Unfortunately,” the Silver Fox answered, nodding as he continued making his way to his recliner.

“Aerin came out to get Zach, but he got called into work,” Richie explained, still helping him. “Something about an overnight break-in.”

“And as manager, he’d be the one to have to deal with it,” he said, groaning as he made the turn to actually sit down.

Zep and Zeph whimpered as they watched, whining as they reached out to him once he was settled.

“Well, c’mere, chu lil boogers,” Rob chuckled after unfolding the foot rest to prop his feet and legs up. “Daddy’s otays–for naow.”

Said boogers babbled and snuggled against his sides happily once their sister settled them in his lap.

“They’re adorable,” the multi-instrumentalist chuckled, settling on the Love seat. “Kinda makes me miss when August was that age.”

Laughing as he took the mug Aerin brought him moments later, he agreed that he’d kinda missed when his older kids were young, too. After all, he’d missed out on so much with them due to how busy he’d been with the band, even after he’d gotten full custody and even started taking them on tour with him during the Summer. In fact, that’d been another of his reasons for finally quitting said band recently–he was determined not to make the same mistakes this Time around since he was kinda, sorta getting a do-over.

Before Richie could get a chanceta agree or disagree, they heard the front door open as the rest of his former band mates came up from the basement. Given what he’d been told, he figured Zach’d just gotten back from dealing with his work emergency and didn’t think anything of it. Seeing the Purdys behind said son as he walked into the living room was a bit of a surprise, prompting him to jokingly threaten to start charging rent ’cuz of how much Time they spent over here. Ash laughed as he said he wouldn’t actually do it, if only ’cuz the Dalls spending so much Time at their house just up the road evened the score.

However, it was the deviously-sadistic smirk on Aidan’s face that made them realize something’d happened, and that she’d a hand in it. They weren’t expecting the younger bassist to pull out his phone with a laugh, then hand it to his would-be sister after fiddling with it for a few moments. Apparently, whatever’d happened was gonna be good, but it involved going online to show everyone what it was.

_“Andy Biersack Gets His Ass Kicked by a Girl?”_ Aerin looked up from reading the headline with surprise coloring her features.

“Just keep reading, sis–and watch the attached video,” he laughed.

_“According to an eyewitness account, Black Veil Brides front man and solo artist Andy Biersack found himself in a checkmate yesterday,”_ the young woman read. _“Maybe now, he’ll realize that one doesn’t have to be over six feet tall and male to kick some serious ass. Watch the video below to see him get his comeuppance–and from the so-called_ shrimp _of a woman who clearly doesn’t take anyone’s shit!”_

Seconds later, they heard where said younger front man’d used that very insult on her, followed by the bassists’ comments about backing up outta striking range.

“Okay, he so totally deserved this!” she laughed as the video died right before she said anything about letting Ash speak his own piece. “But I could kill Aidan for selling a video of me in just my bra!”

“How can ya be sure it was me, though?” the ginger queried, a too-innocent tone coloring her voice.

“Are ya kidding me–how long’ve we known each other now?” Aerin countered with a laugh. “I’d like to think I know your _nuclear Winter_ temper and how ya like to get even, not mad as well as I know my own temper and even Rob’s!”

The whole group cracked up, especially when she grinned proudly.

“Besides, I know that deviously-sadistic glint in your eyes all too well,” the young woman continued after they’d all Calmed down.

“Good thing you’re right about it being me who did it,” Aidan chuckled. “Course, you’re wrong about me selling it.”

She cocked a brow as she sipped her mug, Rob looking just as curious.

“I just went through Ash’s contacts, found one I remembered him saying was pretty decent, and gave them a call,” the ginger explained with a smirk. “I didn’t care about getting paid, just bringing that asshat down a few more rungs.”

Even Bret laughed and agreed that there prolly wasn’t a better way to make sure that very thing happened, whether she’d gotten paid for it or not. Between earning himself a reputation as a narcissistic Control-freak and an asshole Years ago, then ripping his own band to shreds, he already had a lotta haters. Exposing him on that and getting his ass kicked by a girl’d pretty much ensure he never made a comeback by driving the final nail into his musical coffin, so to speak.

Knowing this might wind up landing them in some hot Water, the Silver Fox chuckled and told them to let him know, if they needed a helluvan attorney. He didn’t doubt that Ash’d a damn good one due to some of the legal shit he’d to deal with after his excommunication from BVB, but doubtless Poison’d a better one. They’d a lot more Time to get into trouble and need someone to bail them out on top of musical mileage, after all.

For the moment since no lawsuits’d been filed, and therefore there wasn’t any need for an attorney, they decided to enjoy Andy’s public humiliation while they could. It certainly gave Rob something to focus on besides the pain in his knee that left him currently disabled, if one didn’t count his family. Course, only Time’d tell if the younger front man’d decide to retaliate by at least trying to file a lawsuit against Aidan–or even the younger bassist, if he couldn’t get more than her given name. Till that happened, if it was gonna, their collective families and Health took precedence over all else, as far as any of them were concerned.


	63. Sixty-Two

Exactly three weeks later, Rob was knocked out in his recliner, a couple pillows added to his foot rest to keep his leg propped up. He was five Days out from hitting the big six-oh, which everybody considered a helluva milestone, considering the drug-riddled decades of his Youth. At the same Time, he was only three Days out from having his left knee completely replaced, so he needed all the rest he could get. The only reason his friends and family didn’t try to argue his being sent home already was ’cuz, despite the incision in his leg obviously being sore, he was already getting around better on his own. Zach really only hovered within arm’s reach when he was up and about as a precautionary measure, not ’cuz he truly needed the help.

It was as the Silver Fox was catching this most recent nap, Zep and Zeph snoozing with him, that there was a knock at the front door. With both her stepkids out running errands for her while they’d the chance, Aerin was the only one who could answer it. Quickly drying her hands from having been washing the few dishes left in the sink, she headed off to the foyer before their caller could be prompted into knocking again, this Time harder and louder.

Almost as soon as she opened the door, her usually warm and welcoming expression disappeared, hidden under the Glacier that’d frozen even her eyes. While the Purdys were all out front, the trio closest to her front door was none other than the Biersacks and presumably their attorney. Judging by the pure evil she saw glinting in Juliet’s eyes, she could already tell that they thought to pull a fast one on her, but she’d news for them. She’d a card in her hand, so to speak, that not even her best friends knew about, assuming the Stars were aligned in her favor once again.

“Mrs. Dall, I presume?” the smartly-dressed woman queried.

“Who’s asking?” she countered, crossing her arms as she blocked the door she’d pulled closed behind her.

“My name’s Dina,” she told her. “I’ve been the attorney for all members of Black Veil Brides for many Years.”

“Oh, goody–now we can _really_ get this shit-show on the road,” the young woman dead-panned.

“Might we head inside?” Dina asked.

“Gimme one damn good reason I should let anyone beyond the Purdys in my house,” she snapped. “And it better be something–well, better than Sage and Salt getting rid of any kinda evil.”

The Biersacks both looked surprised, but their attorney somehow retained her composure.

“I doubt you’re gonna wanna discuss a lawsuit in regardsta one of my client’s sudden erectile problems on your front walk,” the attorney Returned smoothly.

“Raise your voice once, and I’ll make sure ya never have to worry about such problems again,” Aerin growled, staring Andy down. “’Cuz even though I can smell _that_ bullshit a country mile away, I’m willing to humor ya–for now. What I’m _not_ willing is to letcha disturb my twin toddlers while they’re napping, or my napping husband, who’s currently recovering from surgery.”

Even Ash looked surprised that she was agreeing to let them all in with so lil fight.

“Take a seat,” the young woman said, gently taking Ember from her mother. “This lil cutie can go nap-nap with Unca Rob and her cousins, if they’re not already awake.”

“Works for us,” Aidan agreed with a nod. “The lil tykes don’t need to be caught up in the middle of all this.”

Returning the nod, she headed off to the living room with the toddler she considered her niece snuggled against her breasts. Ember let out a big yawn as she snuggled closer still, which told her that either it was edging on naptime, or her nap’d been interrupted. The unfortunate thing was that it appeared her husband had just woken up from his nap, so she was gonna have only her cousinsta cuddle with.

Ash’d followed her on the off-chance that his older equivalent’d woken up and needed a hand getting up from his recliner, if nothing else. He was thankful, even used him as a crutch once Aerin’d settled all three toddlers in the twins’ crib so he could take a trip to the bathroom. Not only that, but once he heard about there being an attorney here to see his wife in regardsta a lawsuit, he wasn’t about to go back to sleep. He’d have Time to sleep later tonight since–even though he knew their friends wouldn’t let her get steamrolled–he was determined to stand by his wife and have her back, so to speak.

In the den-slash-office, Rob allowed his younger equivalent to help him get settled on the couch where he could stretch his leg out. The Healing incision was pretty obvious as he nodded to the attorney, whom he recognized from having dealt with her before. Granted, they’d been on the same side rather than opposing ones, but that was a trivial matter, as far as he was concerned.

“Dina,” he drawled, letting his wife settle in his lap.

“A pleasure to see ya again, Rob, although I Wish the circumstances were better,” the attorney said.

“Wait, ya know this guy?” Juliet interjected, her jaw dropping.

“Sugar britches, Dina was the attorney that got hired when one of my former band mates got arrested on bogus rape charges, circa ’07,” the older bassist told her.

“Rape’s a serious crime!” she retorted.

“When the accused actually commits the crime, yeah,” Rob agreed. “But when he’s framed by a dumbass claiming to be him, and the victim’s too stupid to simply Google the name…”

“Point taken,” the younger front man agreed, shooting his wife a sharp look to Silence any further arguments.

“Now, just what the hell’s my wife being served with?” he asked. “And don’t try to pull one over on me, ’cuz my knee still being a lil sore’s making me meaner than normal.”

“To be quite Frank, Rob…” Dina sighed, the look she shot him screaming that she thought her clients were idiots this Time. “The Biersacks’ve filed a lawsuit for damages and personal suffering resulting from a knee meeting a male crotch three weeks ago.”

The older bassist almost immediately snorted and cracked up, which made even the Purdys look at him funny for a few moments. Granted, both of them thought the third couple were idiots, too, but they weren’t quite sure how the situation could be so funny to him. Maybe it’d something to do with the fact that Aidan was also being slapped with a lawsuit over the video she’d leaked, but neither of them thought it was funny in the slightest as he slowly Calmed down and collected himself again.

“Son, if you’re trying to say that my wife kneeing ya in the nuts caused a permanent case of limp dick, ya need a better doctor and to go back to biology class,” the older bassist finally said, staring the target of his words down.

“We didn’t have any sexual problems till that happened!” Juliet snapped.

“Pipe down, sugar britches, ’cuz I’ll suck my own dick, if you’re not the mastermind behind this Insanity,” Rob told her.

The spoiled, greedy bitch simply gaped at him, clearly unused to being talked to in such a manner as he turned his attention back to her husband.

“Son, tell me straight and true–how old are ya?” he asked.

“I’ll be thirty-three next month,” Andy answered. “What’s that got to do with any of this?”

“At the risk of him wanting to kill me, my older son’ll also be thirty-three next month, and that boy can still get it up just fine, even after taking a blow to the ’nads,” the older bassist said.

His eyes widened as he realized he was calling him on his bullshit.

“Hell, I just turned sixty, and lemme tell ya, only thing stopping me from getting it up’s the fact that I just got a knee replacement,” Rob continued. “Lemme Heal another week or so, and my wife’ll be damn glad I got snipped after the twins were born, or we’d prolly have some more _lovable accidents_ in about nine months.”

“I don’t think so, love,” said wife chuckled. “I didn’t have it in me to abort last Time, but if it happened again…”

“I think ya know what I meant, sweetheart,” he said with a chuckle of his own. “And that’s barring anything like turning a pack of Pop Rocks against me.”

Aidan simply grinned while her own husband snickered as the third couple looked confused.

“My point’s that if anyone oughta have trouble getting it up, it’s me ’cuz of my age alone,” the older bassist concluded. “When ya think about the Infinite number of Times I’ve likely been nailed in sixty Years, I’d have been impotent and prolly sterile before Zach was ever an itch in my britches, if it was caused by something so stupid.”

Andy turned a dirty look on his own wife, and it wasn’t much of a surpriseta him and Aerin when he effectively unloaded on her. He minced no words in telling her what an idiot she was for thinking they’d ever have a Hope in Hell of winning this kinda lawsuit. Both of them’d known for a few Years now that he’d been diagnosed with Type II diabetes, which was known to cause circulation issues. The fact that his hormones were still outta whack from over a decade of smoking didn’t help that kinda problem, even though he’d put down the pack back in 2016 or so, if he recalled correctly.

Turning his attention back to the Silver Fox, he actually offered his sincerest apologies, ’cuz he’d apparently been against such a lawsuit. He wasn’t one to gamble when he already knew he was gonna lose, so to speak, but she’d insisted that they at least give it a shot, anywhore. Now, he’d pretty much been proven right on the assumption that they’d lose by a man who clearly wasn’t an attorney, let alone a judge.

Juliet still tried to argue the point, swearing they’d a chance at winning, ’cuz they could prove they hadn’t been having any sexual problems till three weeks ago. Rob was just about ready to break into their bickering before they gave him a migraine, but his attention was quickly caught by something. Glancing over her shoulder, he realized that his wife wasn’t simply ignoring the conversation–she was looking something up on her phone that both confused and surprised him.

_“BCI, this is Nick,”_ they heard moments later.

“Nick Buchanan, right?” Aerin asked, a smirk Beginning to curve her lips.

_“This is he,”_ the guy she’d called responded. _“How can I be of assistance?”_

“My name’s Aerin Kuykendall,” she told him. “I’ve reason to believe I’m being slapped with an unfounded lawsuit at the moment.”

_“Well, nothing I can do there, unfortunately–I’m no attorney, after all,”_ Nick laughed.

“Well I know it since your daughter, Jess, was friends with my mother,” the young woman said. “But as I recall, you’d be the man who could get me dirt to prove or disprove the allegations of the lawsuit in question, providedja take outta-State clients.”

_“Oh? Now you’ve my full, undivided attention, girlie,”_ he mused. _“My inner cop wants out to play since he’s been caged for quite a while.”_

“Perfect. Pretty much anything ya can get on one Andrew Dennis Biersack, as well as his wife, one Juliet Nicole Simms,” Aerin told him. “And be sure to double-check since she may or may not’ve taken her husband’s name when they married.”

The man she was talking to gave her an email address and asked that she send him a visual of those surnames so he could make sure they were spelled right when he ran them. Bidding her goodbyes, she told him to check his email in the next few minutes and to look for the word _sassy_ in the sender’s email address. He’d know he was looking at the right one, if he saw that word since she wasn’t about to reveal her entire email address in front of these two.

Looking back up after Ending her phone call, she smirked as she realized that even Ash and Aidan were now flabbergasted. She’d never told them that–while maybe not as much so as her Birth Creature–she knew a private investigator personally. Clearly, she wasn’t afraid to use that to her advantage, which meant things’d the potential to get a whole lot worse than a leaked video for the narcissistic couple.

Realizing that they were about to do more damage than not to whatever case they might still have, the Biersacks were quick to split for parts unknown. As she saw them out, she wasn’t surprised that even her best friends shrank away from the look on her face, alone. She was the one who was known for having a temper that erupted like a Volcano, but that was ’cuz she liked keeping folks on their toes and dealing with the unpleasant sooner, rather than later. Considering that when she let out this side of herself, she took thingsta the point of being colder than the Planet Pluto–well, maybe it was better that her temper was normally explosive.


	64. Sixty-Three

Within a week, Nick Buchanan’d actually made a trip from Central North Carolina to the outskirts of Knoxville to talk to his newest client in person. As it turned out, he remembered her from around the age of fifteen the best, but he still remembered her as a lil girl not much older than her own babies were now. He said that was mostly due to a handful of pictures from an event called _Hog Day_ where she and his granddaughter, Kylie, were shown side-by-side. That was both with and without their respective mothers, who’d taken them to the lil street fair in Downtown Hillsborough that they’d grown up on, themselves.

But aside from wanting to confirm that the young woman who’d hired him really was the adult version of the lil girl he remembered, he was here on business. It turned out that the Biersacks’d so many skeletons in their individual closets that those closets needed to be the size of a house. Put together, the couple needed a closet the size of a Catholic cathedral to hide all the figurative bones piling up.

It turned out that Type II diabetes and imbalanced hormones were the least of Andy’s Health problems, especially if someone like Bret got their hands on him. Working with him on his diet and exercise in an effort to Control said diabetes could help with the imbalanced hormones, effectively killing two Birds with one Stone. But that was gonna be affected by the lung cancer he’d been diagnosed with that resulted from his smoking, which he hadn’t admitted to publicly. There were tons of things the chemo and radiation he’d undergone for that coulda done to him that’d no doubt affect his Fertility. And that was once one got past the intermittent impotency that was often caused by the diabetes, which even Poison’s front man suffered from.

Still it wasn’t exactly Andy’s Health problems that were a surpriseta any of them, including the Purdys since they’d been just as clueless. No, it was what Juliet’d been hiding in her closet of Secrets, metaphorically speaking–which was an even bigger doozy. According to what the PI’d found out, she’d basically been declared barren, and there wasn’t a medical treatment on the Planet that’d help her. Unable to simply admit it to her husband, she’d gone on Birth Control as a means of Balancing her own hormones.

“Which’s ’bout as stupid as it gets, from what I’m reading,” Aerin said.

“Whaddaya mean, sis?” the younger bassist queried, still looking a bit shell-shocked.

“Remember what I once said about a lotta drugs on the market affecting magnesium absorption?” she countered, cocking a brow at him.

“Wait, seriously?” Aidan’s jaw dropped in utter shock.

“Juliet’s magnesium levels might as well be nonexistent,” the young woman explained, pointing out something on the woman’s most recent blood work results once she laid the paper down.

“How the fuck’s she even still alive?” she breathed as she absorbed and processed what she was reading.

“Good fuckin’ question, considering I’m sure my own were just as bad at one point and I felt like utter shit as a result,” Aerin said.

“Okay, I’m confused now,” the PI admitted, his face twisted in what looked like a painful manner.

“Basically, magnesium’s the be-all, End-all component of the human body–it’s used in practically every bodily process ya can think of,” she explained.

“Sounds like it’d be akin to letting a car run outta gas in the middle of nowhere,” Nick mused.

“More like letting it run outta gas, then trying to put straight Water in the tank to getcha to a gas station,” the young woman corrected him.

He couldn’t help a wince as he processed that.

“Ya put Water in the tank, andja might as well just drain the oil and run it till it blows up,” Aerin told him. “Same kinda effect with lil or no magnesium in the body–it ain’t gonna matter what kinda fuel ya put in the tank, if the motor can’t burn it, so to speak.”

“Which basically means that Andy’s Health problems’re of no import when it comesta conceiving in their case,” the older bassist mused.

“Nope, ’cuz he’s just the fertilizer, like Rain from the Sky,” she agreed. “Ya can dump as much Water and fertilizer on a planted seed as ya wanna, but it’ll never germinate, if the soil it’s planted in is poisoned or otherwise lacking certain nutrients from the very Beginning.”

“Which means she’s pretty much shit-outta-Luck, if she doesn’t start with treating that,” Ash said, shaking his head.

Nodding, his would-be sister said that she wouldn’t have to worry about imbalanced hormones affecting whether she conceived or not. She’d be more apt to worry about planning her funeral and what to do with her remains, if she didn’t get her magnesium levels up with a quickness. However, she doubted the greedy, narcissistic bitch’d listen to even a fellow sufferer–not that she was exactly feeling like a good Witch when it came to her.

Regardless of whether she felt charitable enough to even try helping her or not, Aerin’d plenty of dirt on both halves of the couple separately, but especially combined. If they won the lawsuit they’d filed once this kinda evidence was presented to a judge, then it’d be safe to assume they’d paid said judge off so they’d rule in their favor. The evidence was simply too overwhelming for any judge to side with them without being bribed, threatened, or otherwise coerced into making such a ruling. Granted, she didn’t put such a tactic beneath Juliet, which meant she still needed to watch her back where she was concerned.

After Nick’d left to head to his hotel since he decided to start fresh on heading back to North Carolina in the Morn, the Purdys turned their sights on their friend. They wanted to know just what she Intended to do with her newfound dirt, ’cuz even they thought selling it to a tabloid or five was going too far. Both admitted that they’d love nothing more than to cause the couple so much public humiliation, they’d never recover from it, but not to _that_ degree.

Smirking as she gathered up the paperwork, Aerin assured them that she’d essentially have to be pushed to another Planet to let her morals slip that low. After all, while she didn’t necessarily care if all her own demons were public Knowledge, she knew that not everyone’d that mindset. It was for that very reason that she wasn’t Intent on anything beyond using what now knew to blackmail the couple into leaving her and her family alone. That included Ash and whoever he claimed as near and dear since he was essentially the overprotective older brother she’d never had. As long as the Biersacks didn’t try to push her too far, she’d take their collective Secretsta her grave–otherwise, even she didn’t know exactly what she’d do with them.

It wasn’t long before all three couples found themselves corralled at the Dalls’ house with their collective attorneys, Zach and Zoe watching over all three toddlers. Andy was still of a mind to drop the lawsuit against Aerin, which was a blatant waste of Time, money, and other resources. Juliet still wanted to go through with it, confident that she and her husband would actually win and get a helluva settlement outta it. None of the others were surprised by that, Ash being the least surprised since he’d to deal with Years of their combined greed and narcissism before his excommunication.

Rob kept his expression schooled into a calculated blankness as they all got settled, the only Change in it being a momentary wince as he sat down due to his knee. After all, it was understandable for that joint to still be a bit sore only two weeks out from surgery, even with his physical therapy. Other than that, though, nobody could tell that there was the slightest thing wrong with him, considering his admitted age.

“Mrs. Dall, it’s understood thatcha wanna reach an agreement that _doesn’t_ require taking this disagreement into a courtroom,” Dina said, finally starting their group discussion.

“Considering things’ve the potential to get really ugly for your clients, if they push me too far…” she trailed off, her bemused look focused almost solely on Juliet.

The couple simply cocked their brows, Andy looking the most curious.

“Anybody who knows me already knows that I prefer to help, not harm, but I’ma _take-no-shit_ kinda girl–it’s essentially in a Witch’s DNA,” Aerin Began. “Then again, you’re bound to say anybody who knows me’s biased for that very reason and not wanna believe ’em if y’all try to vet me on that.”

“Gotta love a girl with Intelligence,” Ash’s attorney, Michaela, chuckled.

“Better to be a smartass versus a dumbass,” the young woman retorted with a shrug.

All three attorneys momentarily cracked up, her husband and the Purdys merely chuckling before everybody settled down.

“Now, that being said, I’ve dirt I’m pretty sure you’d both be downright mortified to know what I, alone am aware of,” she continued, her elbows resting on her knees as she steepled her fingers and leaned forward.

“And what kinda dirt’d that be?” the younger front man asked curiously.

“Various medical conditions I’m sure y’all kept private for a reason or five,” Aerin answered flippantly.

It was his wife who paled dangerously as she absently examined her nails.

“I’ve two choices here,” the young woman told them as she glanced up from under her lashes. “I can be a good Witch and act like somebody got me with a Neuralyzer from _Men in Black,_ or I can make a whore with absolutely no moralsta be heard of look like a saint and Aidan’s own _nuclear Winter_ moments look like an erupting Volcano.”

“Somehow, there’s a part of me that doesn’t like the sound of either of those options,” Andy admitted.

“Well, it’s entirely up to y’all.” She simply shrugged again. “’Cuz when I feel like keeping Secrets, regardless of the reason why–well, let’s just say there’s a part of my Past neither my husband, nor best friends know that’d make them shit their britches.”

“Whaddaya mean, sweetheart?” Rob queried, wondering if he should be worried now.

“Never knew I technically have an ex-girlfriend, didja?” Aerin countered, smirking.

Even Ash’s jaw dropped as they all processed her sudden admission, which seemed to amuse her beyond words as she bit back her laughter. Once she’d settled down, she explained for even the attorneys’ benefit that she hadn’t even realized the Truth before what amounted to a somewhat sudden breakup in the Spring of 2019. She’d considered the ex-girlfriend a best friend and sister since she’d never identified as even bisexual, let alone completely lesbian. But looking back on it, she’d realized that if her mother’d never been right about anything else, she’d been right about that woman being her long-distance girlfriend.

Since she generally didn’t like talking about her Past, Aerin’d never told either of her current best friends about that period of her Life. Due to not considering herself even bisexual and having not heard from that ex in the slightest since their breakup, she’d decided not to even mention it to her husband, either. It wasn’t like she wanted anything elseta do with her ex-girlfriend, nor had it in her to cheat with anyone of either gender.

Looking Andy in the eye, she made it clear that while she didn’t exactly care about her own demons being brought to Light, she knew others didn’t necessarily feel the same way. That meant she could very well carry on with Life as if she’d never met either of them, never mind knew about their collective demons. On the other hand, she could completely knock over her glass of _give-a-fuck_ when it came to an even worse lawsuit and expose everything she knew about them–to each other and the rest of the Planet.

“I’m leaving which way I go up to y’all,” the young woman said. “I’d rather help y’all overcome what I know about, if possible, butcha can’t help those who don’t want it.”

“Just like twenty-five or thirty Years ago, ya couldn’t have helped me sober up, despite being a dad,” Rob said, using himself as an example.

“Exactly, ’cuz you’d to _wanna_ actually get sober to do it, let alone stay that way,” she agreed.

“And lemme tell ya, with a wife and four kids now, I’d have to be tied down and force-fed even my favorite liquor from back in the Day,” the older bassist chuckled.

“I doubted you’d say otherwise, _l’amore,”_ Aerin told him before Returning her attention to the trouble-making couple.

“I dunno ya from Eve’s house Cat, but if I wanted the public to know about my Health problems, I’d announce them on my own,” the younger front man told her.

“And I can respect that, ’cuz Rob more or less took the same approach when he quit Poison last month after four-plus decades,” she said.

“Wait, what?” Andy looked confused, yet utterly surprised.

“Let’s just say he took the phrase _shit your guts out_ to a whole new level and leave it at that, man,” Ash interjected with a laugh.

“Point being, though, if I’d wanted the World to know, I’d have told on my own,” the older bassist confirmed. “My friends and family–including my wife–know that, so they don’t tell anything I haven’t already.”

“Meaning she’d have the same Respect for us unless pushed too far,” he mused, appraising the young woman with a critical eye.

“My Trust and Respect’re earned, not given,” Aerin said, rising to grab something off the mantel. “And trust me, after all the ways I’ve been used, abused, and abandoned by people who never shoulda even considered it, it’s almost impossible to earn those things.”

The younger bassist nodded and admitted that most of what he knew about her, he’d actually learned from Rob after they’d all met him. Not ’cuz she truly wanted to hide any of her Past from him, but ’cuz it was so painful for her to talk about that she’d choke up to the point of being physically unable to talk at all. But he didn’t try to force her into talking, both ’cuz he knew part of her pain and ’cuz she never tried to force him. She’d ask if he was okay or something like that, then leave him alone and let him seek her out on his own once he was actually ready to talk.

“She’s been that way ever since I found her in that old flip of mine in 2019,” Ash chuckled. “Take-no-shit, Sword-wielding crazy bitch when she needsta be, but more often a loving sweetheart who’d rather just be left alone when it comesta the vast majority of humanity.”

“But push enough buttons, and–well, I make a Sword-wielding crazy bitch look like a harmless puppy,” the young woman dead-panned before raising her vape for a hit.

“Howddawe know you’ve an Emotional, compassionate bone in your body, though?” Juliet snapped.

Leveling a glare on her, she surprised even her husband. “Play _Lost it All_ within earshot of me and see how quick I start sobbing like a baby, bitch.”

Rob’s eyes widened. “Jeez, feeling masochistic today, sweetheart?”

The others looked confused as Aerin simply shrugged and took another hit off her vape, only she and her husband knowing why he’d asked that. Even her would-be brother still knew only that that song’d make her cry, but not the reason why she’d react like that. Only her husband and that aforementioned ex-girlfriend knew that reason, but only said husband was present and could explain it, if he felt the need.

Once again focusing on Andy, she made it quite clear that–whether she loved or hated him as a recording artist and simply as a man–she really didn’t wanna have to publicly humiliate him. But if he kept messing with her and those she held near and dear–which included Ash–he’d rue at least the Day he’d met her, maybe even the Day he was born. He mighta inadvertently helped her gain acceptance when it came to mortality, her own in particular, but that wasn’t enough to avoid all-out War once she’d enough of his antics. She’d simply wage that figurative War, and the more he fucked with her and hers, the more brutal she’d get with her tactics.

“Whaddaya mean by I helpedja accept your mortality?” he asked.

“Wasn’t you on your own,” Aerin told him. “It was the BVB song _In the End_. Ever since then, I’ve pretty much had a, _Oh, come to visit again, Grimmie? Well, c’mon in_ kinda attitude.”

“She’d rather make friends with the Grim Reaper and be able to shake his hand later as opposed to beg for something he’s not gonna give her,” Ash explained.

“Is it gonna hurt like hell when Rob goes? Course, but I know we’ll be together again, either on the other side or in another Lifetime,” she said. “But honestly, if it’d been my choice and he didn’t have a will of any kind, he’d have died two Years ago since Mother Nature was obviously trying to kill him.”

“I guess it’s a good thing we _weren’t_ legally wed till last month,” Rob chuckled, laughing harder when she playfully whomped his head. “Spousal abuse!”

“Keep pushing my buttons, and I’ll show ya what _spousal abuse_ is,” the young woman warned him, her smirk belying any true malice toward him.

“That a promise, sweetheart?” he goaded her with a grin.

“Pop Rocks and cage!” Aerin laughed, knowing he’d get it.

_“Mmm,_ now we’re talkin’ ’bout a good Time,” the older bassist purred, pulling her down into his lap and against his chest.

“I’m not sure if I should even ask,” Andy chuckled.

“If ya were meant to know, you’d be me, Rob, Aidan, or Ash,” she retorted. “Or you’d be invited to join one of us couples and find out.”

“No, thanks–not into threesomes and voyeurism!” the younger front man laughed.

“Not like ya were being invited to join mine and Rob’s shenanigans, anywhore,” Aerin told him.

“Don’t even look at me, man,” her would-be brother said. “Even if I _was_ into that, Aidan’d skin my boner with a dull, rusty cheese grater, if I extended that kinda invitation.”

_“Ooh,_ now there’s a good idea,” said ginger chuckled.

“Me and my big mouth,” Ash groaned.

The entire group cracked up as he lowered his head into his hand and shook it, his wife grinning deviously as she rubbed his back. Once they’d settled down, the youngest woman present leveled a look on Juliet and said she’d be wiseta take the advice she could give her, whether here or in private. She wasn’t gonna force her to go anywhere alone with her, nor was she gonna bare all in front of everybody–she’d leave that choice entirely up to her. And she’d gladly let her husband search her for weapons, including any that could be hidden in places considered indecent.

Naturally, the spoiled, greedy bitch quite literally turned her nose up at the offered advice, earning her a hard eye-roll from her husband. Shrugging, Aerin roseta take a potty break, pausing long enough to whisper something in her ear as she passed before continuing like she hadn’t said a word. Even Andy was curiously confused by how her eyes widened in shock, but everybody doubted she’d tell them what she’d been told.

After thinking about their options, the Biersacks’d made their decision by the Time she Returned from her potty break. The young woman was pleased to be told that even Juliet wanted to retain their privacy more than they’d ever wanna win a lawsuit against anyone. Like she’d promised before, as far as the public was concerned, Aerin didn’t know anything about them that couldn’t be found in a Google search. However, she refused to get rid of any paper copies of what she’d found out through that PI, ’cuz if they ever went back on their End of the bargain, she was going back on hers. That was a fair enough agreement to even the attorneys since no one could legally force her to, and all of them were aware of that.

Leaning down to give her husband a sound kiss, the young woman said she was going out back for a while before something unsavory happened. Rob simply nodded and said he’d peek out the window to check on her periodically, if neither of their friends did so. He didn’t try to stop her since he knew that was her way of saying she needed to Ground and Center herself, or all hell was gonna break loose. The only thing he did was push himself up with a wince and hobble off to check on all four of his kids, who were hiding in Zoe’s room. By the Time he Returned to the living room, he hoped all but the Purdys woulda already left since their business was over and done with now.


	65. Sixty-Four

Within a week, the Dalls found themselves summoned over to the Purdys’ house, but they couldn’t Begin to imagine what’d prompt such a summoning. After all, said younger rock ‘n’ roll family’d shown up at their house in Loudon the past couple Times that trouble’d started brewing. They both wracked their brains, but couldn’t come up with an explanation that made sense during their short drive to Lenoir City.

Arriving to find the rest of Poison–including Richie–gathered at the younger bassist’s house made at least a partial idea Dawn on Aerin. Her surrogate brother’d done a few covers ever since his excommunication from Black Veil Brides, and she was willing to bet both her left tit _and_ ovary that he was at it again. She even had an idea of which song he was wanting to do a cover of, if it involved even Poison’s former multi-instrumentalist. It wasn’t that hard to figure out, considering the shit that’d been going on lately and how well she’d gotten to know him in the last few Years.

“So, what’s up, kid?” Bret asked curiously once they were all gathered around the fireplace in Ash’s massive living room since it was too cold to chill on the patio.

The younger bassist opened his mouth to answer, only to get cut off by the doorbell ringing. “Hold that Thought for a sec.”

“I thought Michaela got everything straightened out for us,” Aidan mused, her brow furrowing as she bounced their daughter on her knee.

“I thought so, too, but anything’s possible,” he said, heading for the front door.

Judging by how his expression shifted before he ever got into the kitchen, Ash wasn’t liking who he saw through the glass of his front door, which prompted his surrogate sister into following him.

“Da fuq do _you_ want, Andy?” the younger bassist growled after ripping open the door.

“To apologize for the shit of the last month or so,” Andy answered, his demonically-deep voice carrying into the living room, despite keeping his volume low.

“Then ya owe an identical apology to myself and my own husband,” Aerin told him. “’Cuz your bullshit hasn’t cost just Ash and Aidan a few Nights of sleep.”

“I know that,” he agreed. “The Intent wasta either have Ashley give ya a letter containing just that, or escort me over to your house so I wouldn’t get shot.”

“You’d be more likely to get stabbed or gutted like a Fish with me,” the young woman dead-panned. “I like playing with my food before I eat it, so to speak.”

Ash couldn’t help bursting into laughter as his former best friend’s expression shifted to one of horror. “Relax, man. She might be vicious and sadistic, but only when given reason to be.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about that,” the younger front man admitted nervously.

“Behave yourself, and neither she, nor my wife’ll turn ya into an oversize pin cushion,” he told him as they stepped back to let him in. “Give either reason to feel threatened or like they need to protect their loved ones, and they’ll make ya Wish ya were dead long before they ever kill ya.”

Nodding his Understanding, Andy followed the pair into the house, pausing till his former best friend was ready to go further than the foyer. He didn’t try to hide being impressed by the Color scheme and _décor_ as they passed through the massive kitchen and into the equally massive living room. Then again, he was kinda glad to see that somebody’d talked the man into something other than _Zebra_ as a decorating theme with this house.

Aerin more or less flounced over to her husband and settled next to him since the twins’d appropriated his lap in her absence. Nobody missed how even said husband’s expression chilled by at least fifty degrees as he clapped eyes on the younger front man. They also didn’t miss the spark that lit up the lone ginger’s eyes, nor how her husband gently grabbed her shoulders before she could even think of doing anything stupid. He leaned down to murmur in her ear, which made her at least somewhat settle down and decide to hear out his former band mate.

Once he’d apologized to even the rest of Poison–the majority of whom’d their Lives a bit disrupted by putting off searching for a new bassist to rally with their former one–he was invited to simply listen in. As much a surprise as it wasta prolly all but the pair of women, it was actually the younger front man who’d sparked this particular idea. While he wasn’t open to letting him so much as offer suggestions, Ash kinda wanted him to hear how he’d Inspired him by making him think back on the Past.

“So, how does that involve us?” Rikki asked, looking confused.

“’Cuz the song I’m wanting to do is a Poison song,” the younger bassist chuckled.

“Meaning you’d have to get our permission and whatnot, or risk us suing ya for doing a cover,” CC said, Enlightenment Dawning.

“Well, I wanted the entire band’s Blessing as men and friends, too, not just the legalities,” he admitted.

“And why’s that?” Rob queried, his own brow cocked.

“’Cuz it’s supposed to be part-cover, part-tribute,” he answered. “What better way to get out what’s bouncing around my head and Honor one of my now-favorite bands than by doing a cover of _Ride Child Ride?”_

The veteran band’s eyes all widened, ’cuz that made something else suddenly click.

“Well, that explains getting even me to fly out here,” Richie mused, tucking his hair behind his ears.

“Whyddaya say that?” Andy queried, looking equally confused.

“’Cuz that’s one of the songs from _Native Tongue,_ which I was damn near a one-man band on,” he answered with a laugh.

“I’m not even touching that with a ten-foot pole, man,” the older bassist laughed. “’Cuz Gods know ya pretty much tracked bass for me and taught me the riffs later, so I wouldn’t be surprised to find out you’d done that with everything else.”

The pair of blondes involved with the aforementioned album both nodded, agreeing that now wasn’t the Time or place for _that_ particular argument.

“That being said, all this shit over the last month or two put me _in a mood,_ as Aerin likesta say,” Ash chuckled.

Said young woman merely grinned as everyone else laughed.

“When _Ride Child Ride_ came up in one of Aidan’s playlists while she was cleaning–well, I daresay Zeus got me with one of his Lightning bolts,” he continued.

Even Bret couldn’t deny that it was a good one to cover, just based on the lyrical content of the song on its own. His own best friend and former bassist’d kept him and the others in the loop enough for him to know that just about any song about reminiscing could be cathartic for him right about now. Combined with it being a Poison song and how he wanted to figuratively tip his hat to them, he couldn’t think of a better song to kill both Birds with the same Stone. Well, _Back to the Rocking Horse_ might be a good one, but it didn’t quite fit the kinda reminiscing he was sure the younger bassist was doing right now.

Nodding, he admitted that he’d gone through damn near everything Poison’d ever recorded and released that wasn’t a party anthem, but he hadn’t found anything better. He was pretty set on doing a cover of the song he’d mentioned, but knew there was more to it than just picking a song. This wasn’t the first Time he’d done a cover, even after his departure from BVB, so he knew the process all too well.

All of Poison was in agreement to let him give it a whirl and see how well he did, even Richie agreeing to his idea and request. In fact, the middle-aged multi-instrumentalist was willing to help him rewrite the song’s key to fit his voice better, if it turned out that such a thing needed to be done. But finding out if that’d be a necessity or could be skipped entirely required getting him into a recording booth to try laying down lead vocals, which was the only way they’d find out.

Luckily, Ash’d gotten smart when both families’d moved East from the Nashville area and set up his own studio in one of the spare bedrooms. Doing that allowed him to work from home much like he did with his clothing line, which he considered a must. After all, he’d been in a committed relationship for upwards of two Years even back then, and with Ember in the making at the Time, he’d a lot on his plate. Once she was born, he hadn’t been willing to miss out on the slightest part of her childhood just to make money, which was why he’d never bothered forming another band. Well, that and the fact that he’d decided that he liked being able to work on his own terms too much to give it up, now that he’d gotten a taste of it.

“Then let’s getcha in that booth, bro,” Aerin laughed as she pushed herself up from the couch.

“Studio’s upstairs,” the younger bassist chuckled.

_“Annnnd?_ I ain’t forgot about the elevator Gary Lynn all but shoved me and Rob into when he showed all of us this house, ’cuz he thought only Rob’d be able to afford it!” she retorted with a grin.

“Wait, elevator?” Andy asked, surprise coloring his features. “And who’s Gary Lynn?”

“Yeah, there’s an elevator in this house,” the young woman answered. “Between my arthritis and Rob’s knee that recently got replaced, he showed us this house a couple Years ago ’cuz of that feature.”

Nodding, he pushed himself up to follow the rest of the group.

“And Gary Lynn’s one of my uncles,” Aerin continued, Zep riding on her hip. “Well, great-uncle since he was my pappaw’s brother.”

“Hillbilly word for _grampa,_ man,” the younger bassist chuckled as he led most of the group to the stairs.

“So, how’d _you_ wind up with this house?” he queried as the one couple boarded said elevator with their babies.

“Rob and Aerin decided they’d rather have a single-story house, if they could, but this’d do as a last resort,” Ash answered as they headed upstairs. “Hell, the elevator never gets used unless they’re over here and have a reason to go upstairs, honestly.”

At the top of the stairs, they met up with said couple, who’d just stepped off the elevator and closed its door behind them. He gestured to the group to follow him as he cut a left past one of the guest rooms and storage Space that was behind the elevator shaft. Considering he’d doubted it’d ever get used, he’d picked the slightly-sunken room at the End of this hall for his home studio.

It was a bit crowded once they were all in said studio, ’cuz even though it was a decently big room, the recording equipment took up quite a bit of Space. They all managed to find seats, though, Richie taking the helm to start firing it up for him when they heard the doorbell ring again. A quick _Thanks, man!_ was called over his shoulder as the younger bassist headed back down to answer the door again, all of them hoping this’d be the last interruption. Unfortunately, no such Luck wasta be had, judging by the sudden heated voices they heard from downstairs, which made Andy groan.

Somehow, none of them were surprised when he Returned with Juliet, whom he shot a scathing look at as he gave her a gentle push toward her husband. But those who knew or had otherwise dealt with her before knew that nothing good could come of letting her sit in right now. Even if only her husband and the younger bassist knew it, she was a bitch who loved lobbing insults and thought her shit didn’t stink, so to speak. And she’d loved nothing more than tormenting the latter of those men by constantly insulting his skills on guitar and bass both, not to mention his vocal abilities. That was part of the reason he’d come to loathe being a part of BVB and hadn’t bothered trying to fight his excommunication.

“Jesus Christ,” said bitch groaned once he was in his recording booth. “He still can’t sing worth a shit, even now!”

“He sounds better’n you, ya proverbial Cat in heat,” Aerin snapped before even the younger front man could reprimand her. “But I know what his problem is right now, and it’s easily fixed.”

“And what’s that?” Andy queried, looking up at her after giving his wife a scathing look of his own.

“He always has trouble dropping down to Bret’s key till I make myself a bit of a vocal sacrifice,” she answered, moving next to where Richie sat at the Sound board.

“You–able to sing?” Juliet scoffed, clearly mocking her.

“You’d be surprised by my talents,” the young woman retorted. “I’d be willing to bet that even _your_ husband’ll be sporting a boner by the Time I come back outta that booth, and _not_ ’cuz embarrassing _any_ of the guys like that’s my Intent.”

She clearly didn’t believe her, even as her jaw dropped at the Thought of her inadvertently arousing every man present with just her voice like that.

“Take a break and lemme lay down your hint track,” she laughed, holding down the mic button so Ash’d hear her.

“Sounds like a plan to me before I drive myself nuts!” Ash responded, reaching up to pull his headphones off.

Once he’d come outta the booth, Aerin laughed and gently smacked his ass as she told him that he’d never been quite right in the head for as long as she’d known him. Her grin didn’t fade in the slightest as she said that she was willing to bet a month’s pay that he’d been no more sane before they’d met. To be quite honest, it sounded to her like he’d been more _insane_ from the heavy drinking and not being given the opportunity to focus on his mental and Emotional Health like he shoulda.

Laughing as he settled in the floor next to his own wife, he agreed that she’d a very valid point that he couldn’t even Begin to argue with. But it was said wife’s lack of reaction to another woman slapping her man’s ass that surprised the vast majority of the group. Then again, even Rob’s lack of reaction to his own wife slapping the ass of anyone but himself was more of a surpriseta them.

As she headed into the booth and got herself set up, the younger bassist grinned and admitted that they’d an understanding between the two couples. She’d rejected his advances from the very first Night he’d met her, no matter what he tried to Change her mind, after all. Once she’d introduced him to Aidan and they’d hit it off, it was all over–his attention and Affection was focused solely on the ginger who’d become his wife. He still thought the younger woman was gorgeous and talented, but he’d lost interest in her in a Romantic and sexual sense. Besides, he wasn’t into wife-swapping any more than his older equivalent was, so both couples knew nothing’d ever come of any flirting between them.

Their attention was reclaimed moments later when Richie took notice of her waving her hand at him from the other side of the glass. Holding down the mic button, he asked if she was ready, and none of them were surprised when she nodded and flashed him a thumbs-up. Once he’d taken his finger off the button so they’d hear her, she told him to turn up the recorded track as loud as it’d go. She’d give him a signal if it turned out to be too loud, but she needed to barely be able to hear herself, or she’d fuck up royally.

_“Well, I’m a-sittin’ here this Evenin’–I got some old friends on my mind, yeah, I do…”_ she sang once she heard her cue in the instrumental version. _“Yeah, me and Slick and Davy, salutin’ Mr. Daniels for the very first Time…”_

“Holy shit,” Andy breathed, his eyes widening.

“She’s pretty damn good,” the multi-instrumentalist said. “Gotta be to do Bret’s lead line in _my_ key like this, more or less.”

_“We was a-jammin’ to ol’ Jimi, singin’_ Purple Haze _–no Doubt, mmm, no, no… I think between the weed and whiskey, my head went North, and man, my feet went South,”_ she continued, her own husband merely grinning.

“That’s Aerin the Rebel for ya,” the older front man chuckled.

_“We had some good Times–and man, do I remember them well… Those Days’re long gone–but now, I gotta tell ya just how we left some storiesta tell!”_

“Jesus, _I’m_ about ready to pop a boner, and I’m used to her Siren Song!” CC laughed.

“Not as much as Ash and I,” the older bassist retorted.

“Can’t argue there, man,” he said as she took a deep breath.

_“Ride, child, ride–hell, we had some good Times then! Ride, child, ride–sometimes, I need those Times again… Do you remember when?”_ the young woman sang.

Nobody made a Sound as she waited out the short interlude after the chorus.

_“Remember all our big talk, how we were gonna be president one Day, babe?”_ she continued moments later. _“We were gonna save the whole World, but man, I gotta tell ya, Lord–didn’t have a clue back then, no.”_

All but Juliet were absolutely spellbound by her abilities as Aerin launched into the bridge and chorus again, which was pretty typical. The third, uninvited woman was more than a lil jealous as she listened, and only Ash could even Begin to guess why. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t manage to sound anywhere near like this without a metric fuck-ton of doctoring, so she pretty much hated anyone who could. If his surrogate sister’d been a recording artist for a living, she’d have no doubt done everything under the Sun possible to ruin her career outta Jealousy and a desire to take out her competition.

_“Ride, child, ride–hell, we had some good Times then! Ride, child, ride–sometimes, I need those Times again… Ride, child, ride–hell, we had some good Times then! Ride, child, ride–take me back there! Man, do you remember when?”_

After concluding with that double repetition of the chorus, the second Time Changed like it was in the original version, the youngest woman slipped off the headphones after getting a thumbs-up from Richie.

“Damn, girl,” he chuckled as she stepped outta the booth moments later. “I’ve a pretty powerful voice in my own right, but even I bow to the mistress.”

“We can’t all be Music Witches,” Aerin laughed, gently clapping him on the shoulder. “Gods know that’s prolly the only thing to save my voice after more than a decade of smoking.”

“Wait, you’re a former smoker, too?” the younger front man asked.

“Started in September of ’09 right before my sixteenth birthday,” she answered, shrugging. “Ash managed to get me to switch to vaping after we met, ’cuz Gods pity and help the fool that _doesn’t_ gimme my nicotine.”

“Let’s just say she scares even _me_ when she’s deprived of it, and I fuckin’ married her–twice!” Rob laughed.

“She’s, like–half your size, man!” Andy shot back with a laugh of his own.

“And packs a punch like any other guy I’ve ever traded blows with, kid,” he told him. “Never been on the receiving End of that lil fist, and I don’t wanna be after seeing it in action.”

“Paws off, asshat!” the young woman snapped, socking her surrogate brother a good one when he playfully grabbed her crotch by way of provoking her.

“Still…got a…brick…for a…fist,” Ash chuckled breathlessly as he sat back up.

“Keep your paws off my kitty, then,” she said, smirking down at him. “You’ve your own woman for that.”

“Only when I let him,” Aidan snickered, rubbing his back. “Not that it’s very often that he’s to even sweet-talk me.”

The entire group cracked up at her claim combined with the devious grin shot at her by the husband in question. Once they’d settled down and caught their breath, said younger bassist pushed himself up so he could head back into the recording booth. Aerin hadn’t been wrong in saying that hearing her helped him dip down as low as he wanted to for certain songs since his voice wasn’t as deep as Bret’s.

His second attempt went a lot better than the first, now that he’d what amounted to a baseline to work with that Guided him. Even the younger front man was surprised by just how low he was able to go, ’cuz he sounded nothing like he did on BVB albums. The notes Ash was hitting now weren’t quite as deep as his own, but they might as well’ve been compared to his backing lines from Years past. Now he actually sounded more masculine in comparison, rather than practically shooting up into something that was more of a feminine vocal range than it wasn’t.

Stepping back outta the booth, the younger bassist couldn’t help the grin that was splitting his face from ear-to-ear now. He was excited to hear how his second attempt’d turned out, ’cuz he loved when he was able to achieve his desired result on the first take. Only listening to it now was gonna tell him if he’d managed that, or if there was gonna be something he’d have to redo in yet another take. But from the looks of things, everybody but Juliet was just as excited, so no one tried to argue taking a listen before any kinda break.


	66. Sixty-Five

“So, didja _really_ meet Aerin ’cuz she broke into an old flip of yours, or is that just some kinda wild tale to gussy up the Truth?”

Downstairs, all the guys and Juliet were chilling in the living room while the aforementioned woman and her female best friend were working on food for everyone. Both bassists were pinned down by napping toddlers, the one who’d just been addressed stretched out in the floor on his back. He already knew Ember’d fight naptime in any other position, and he just hadn’t been in the mood to deal with a temper tantrum.

“It’s the Gods-honest Truth, man,” he answered, a hand now behind his head to help prop it up.

“Here,” Richie said, leaning down to stuff a couple throw pillows under it for him.

“Thanks, Richie,” the younger bassist chuckled, then turned his attention back to his former best friend. “Trust me, I wasn’t expecting to go to the Brighton houseta check it for damage after a Twister, only to wind up held at Swordpoint.”

“Jesus Christ!” he said, his blue eyes widening in shock.

“Yeah, my buddy Jeremiah thought I was nuts for wanting to take her back home with me, even after she admitted to being homeless,” Ash laughed. “But she’s my best friend, and she introduced me to my wife. Ya think I’d have those things, if I’d called the cops on her for trespassing, not to mention the B&E?”

The younger front man looked momentarily hurt at how he’d referred to the young woman before that expression disappeared.

“And Gods know _she_ wouldn’t have met _Rob,_ if I’d done that,” he continued, choosing to ignore that look. “So, insane as it mighta been, that chance meeting was one of the best thingsta ever happen to both of us.”

“So, that toddler’s _really_ yours?” Juliet queried, scowling down at him.

“If she’s not, then Aidan’s some ’splaining to do,” the younger bassist snapped. “That, or I was abducted by aliens and replaced with a pod-person for a Night.”

“We might not’ve had _quite_ as explosive a Night as what led to Zep and Zeph, but I’d like to think we were both present and well aware the Night I most likely conceived.”

Looking up, they saw Aidan and Aerin both standing in the massive archway that separated kitchen from living room, both glaring at the last woman. It was pretty obvious that the former was more than ready to go on the Warpath and barely holding herself back. The latter looked just as ready to give this woman a reason to have her driver’s license updated, and she was prolly more unpredictable. After all, she almost never did the same thing twice, simply ’cuz she didn’t want anyone being able to predict her next move before she actually made it since she delighted in keeping folks on their toes.

“And I’d like to think _I_ remember Ember’s Birth pretty well,” the young woman said, rising with a wince from picking said baby up off her daddy’s chest.

“Well, I’d like to think your best friend would letcha know when she’d her baby, no matter who the daddy was,” Andy mused.

“Fuck that noise, man!” she laughed, Ember snuggling closer to her. “I was in labor at the same Time!”

He and his own wife both looked surprised.

“She conceived about a month after me, but twins tend to come a month early,” Aidan explained, helping her husband up. “She also has less room to support a pregnancy since she’s five inches shorter.”

“When I’m standing on my longer leg!” the young woman said. “And I ain’t short–I’m fun-sized!”

Everybody cracked up at that declaration as she turned to head to the master suite, her own husband rising to follow her.

“So, all three were born on the same Day, huh?” the younger front man asked once he’d settled down to chuckles.

“Yeah, ’cuz Aidan actually had to call Aerin when her water broke,” Ash answered. “Let’s just say I got a lil more than just _first-Time-daddy_ jitters and leave it at that.”

“Hey, it’s understandable, kid,” Rikki told him, patting his shoulder as they headed to the kitchen. “I was less than a month from turning forty-eight when Jude was born, andja think _I_ wasn’t nervous since he was my first?”

“Fuck knows I was, too, when Raine was born,” the older front man agreed. “I mighta been thirty-seven and a first-Time dad, but I was terrified she was gonna be diabetic since I am on top of it.”

“I think we were all nervous and jittery with the Birth of our first or only child, depending on which one of us we’re talking about,” Richie agreed, nodding.

Even Rob didn’t try to deny that he’d been a nervous wreck the Night his ex-wife’d gone into labor with his older son. But he’d always been the one who handled stress the best outta his band, so he’d been able to hide it from even said ex-wife pretty well. Granted, when he’d gone back home after Zach was born, he’d gotten downright rotted as his way of Calming down since he’d been in Miami, his family in Penn and his closest friends out in Cali.

As they settled in the living room once they’d all gotten their plates, Andy let out a heavy sigh and admitted that it didn’t seem he’d ever be able to connect with them on that level. His wife was five Years older than he was, meaning she was pretty much at the End of her child-bearing Years. If they managed to conceive at this late date, it was more likely their baby’d be born with some kinda congenital Birth defect than not.

None of those who knew her and what she believed in were surprised when Aerin snorted and rolled her eyes as she sipped her Pepsi. Whether she actually said what was on her mind or not was up for debate, but those who knew her best could practically hear her Thoughts. Her husband in particular didn’t need her to actually say what she was thinking to be able to guess, he knew her so well. But Naturally, her reaction made the third couple give her odd looks, Juliet’s a bit on the homicidal side as she set her glass back down on the End table to her right so she could pick up her fork again.

“What the hell was _that_ snort for?” said woman demanded.

“Not saying you’re anything like her, ’cuz I dunno ya in the slightest–and quite honestly, I don’t wanna–butcha could be no more meant to be a mother than _my_ mother ever was,” she snapped.

Ash shivered due to what he’d been told, but not as violently as all of the veteran band except Richie.

“Seriously, _that_ fuckin’ bitch shoulda been sterilized at Birth, even though it’d mean you wouldn’t exist now,” Bret dead-panned.

“Who the fuck accuses their kid of being a band-whore and triesta knock their head off in front of _that_ many witnesses?” the drummer asked by way of agreement.

Shooting a bemused look at her target, Aerin didn’t bother mincing any words. “My point exactly. It may not be thatcha have something wrong with ya mentally that’d preventcha from being a decent mother, but something physical.”

The spoiled, greedy bitch’s jaw was dropped in shock.

“Hell, if we’re gonna talk like that, I shouldn’t even be a mother,” she admitted.

“Whaddaya mean?” Andy queried.

“That arthritis I mentioned earlier–it’s rheumatoid,” the young woman answered. “To make matters worse, it was the juvenile form and since dropped the _juvenile_ part, much like Bret’s diabetes.”

The older front man nodded as he wiped his mouth. “Means there’s a higher chance she’d pass it on since she’s a direct Ancestor of the twins.”

“And that’s not including the magnesium deficiency and anemia that no amount of dietary Changes seem to help,” Aerin continued, causing the third woman’s eyesta widen.

“Wait, what?” The younger front man’s brows furrowed in confusion.

Taking a sip of her drink, she explained how magnesium was the be-all, End-all element used in practically every bodily function known to man. If a person didn’t have enough of it in their body, they could suffer a lot more than just Fertility problems, up to and including miscarriages. She even told them how a lotta different medications could make such a deficiency even worse, one of those medications being Birth Control, whether it was in pill form or something else.

“When I made that discovery, I swore I’d never take the shit again,” the young woman said. “I was also single at the Time, and I’ve never heard of a dildo impregnating a woman.”

“But weren’tcha on it when ya got pregnant with the twins?” Andy queried.

“Nope, and Rob wasn’t gonna make me go on it,” Aerin answered.

“She’s every bit as stubborn and hard-headed as me, kid,” the older bassist chuckled. “But considering I’ve no desire to see it get so outta Control that my wife winds up seizing to Death…”

His eyes widened as he turned to his own wife. “Jules…?”

“Yeah, it came up in my blood work!” Juliet snapped, her face Beet-red with Anger and humiliation.

“Then we shoulda been focusing on _that,_ not having kids!” the younger front man said. “Fuck, it even explains those seizures ya had last Year!”

Even Ash’s jaw dropped at that revelation.

“Ya know, I mighta promised I’d go to marriage counseling and all that shit, but I’m seriously reconsidering,” he told her.

“White Rabbit–” she started, only to rear back when he jumped up and turned a downright homicidal look on her.

“Don’t fuckin’ call me that!” Andy snapped. “If you’re willing to lie about your own Health, you’ll lie about anything!”

No one was entirely sure they wanted to intervene, or if they even should.

“For God’s sake, ya wouldn’t even come with me for any of my cancer treatments, so howddaI know ya weren’t using that as an opportunity to cheat on me?” he asked. “Wouldn’t be the first Time a spouse’s been having Health problems and their husband or wife did that, after all.”

Rikki shot a scathing look of his own at Juliet, ’cuz this young man’s words resonated with him in a way they wouldn’t with anyone else present. As a cancer survivor in his own right, he knew just how important the support of one’s family and friends–especially their spouse–could be during such a trying Time. Hearing that she’d all but abandoned her husband when he’d needed her most set his blood to boiling like nothing else short of his own kids being threatened could.

“Ya know, I’m not normally one to judge at first glance, but I don’t blame Andy for feeling that way,” he said, his tone too Calm and even for the look in his aqua eyes.

“Oh, shit.” Even Rob’s eyes widened. “Never good to piss Rikki off.”

“How could I’ve pissed him off?” she asked.

“’Cuz I’ma cancer survivor, myself,” the drummer answered. “Oropharyngeal, caused by HPV, before ya ask.”

Andy’s eyes widened, the reason why this man was taking his words so personally hitting him like a barrel of bricksta the face.

“My ex-wife wasn’t with me during a lotta my own treatment appointments, but we didn’t exactly have a choice there,” he said. “Our son was only six, our daughter a tender two, when I got my diagnosis.”

The younger front man glared at her. “Sounds like that woman’d a good reason for not being by her husband’s side when he needed her.”

“Well, _somebody’d_ to stay home with the kids,” Rikki dead-panned. “I knew and understood that, so I never held Mel’s absence against her then, and I still don’t now.”

“They’ve been split technically since the Summer of 2015,” the older bassist revealed. “Even legally separated, Melanie did what she could to help Rikki.”

“That speaks volumes since Rob was still living in Florida at the Time, but still knows that,” he told them.

Juliet seemed to realize just what a mistake she’d made just a few Years ago.

“So honestly, if I were to have to go back and do it all again–well, I’d have leftcha a long Time ago, if you’d been Melanie and did that to me,” the drummer said. “And I’d be the first one to side with Andy in a divorce fight now, even though I dunno him from Adam’s fuckin’ house Cat.”

Ash chuckled as his former best friend looked shocked. “Ya get used to how these guys band together, if you’re around them enough.”

“Between that and the family ya didn’t have the last Time we really hung out, I don’t really blame ya for not wanting to rejoin BVB,” he sighed. “Hell, now I’m not sure I wanna go back to it, and that band was _my_ brain-child.”

That was apparently the wrong thing to say, ’cuz that made his wife jump up from where she’d been seated with a screech. Aidan and Aerin hauled ass for the master suite, where they locked themselves, Rob, and the babies away from anything that went down. Somebody’d to make sure they were safe, after all, and the older bassist thought it unwiseta get into a tussle even a month or so after his knee replacement.

It took Rikki and Richie both to get the remaining woman off her husband when she attacked him in a fit of blind Rage. CC ran ahead of them to open the front door as even Bret jumped in to restrain her by grabbing her wildly-flailing legs. While they were taking care of getting her outta the house, the younger bassist took his former best friend into the kitchen. She’d gotten him in the face pretty good, and he’d better lighting to check him over with in that second room. And that wasn’t including the sink for soaking a rag or something to clean off the blood already running down his faceta see how badly he was hurt.

Luckily, Andy turned out to have a relatively minor cut near his hairline, most likely from his ex-wife-to-be’s wedding set. He only agreed to be taken to the hospital to be checked out better than the paramedics who’d shown up to answer Ash’s call to the cops could do at the older front man’s insistence. After all, he knew firsthand just how serious a head injury could turn, and with just how lil warning sometimes. He didn’t wanna see this young man lose his Life ’cuz he’d seemed fine one minute, then gone downhill the next.

By the Time everybody’d given their statements and the Dalls finally got back home, it was damn near Midnight and they’d cranky babies on their hands. Zach and Zoe were both relieved that everyone was all right, despite what’d happened in the Purdys’ living room. Even though they didn’t exactly like Andy or his band anymore, they were glad to hear that he didn’t seem to have worse than a small cut and a Goose Egg on his head. All of them knew it coulda Ended a lot worse than that–he coulda been in the ICU on Life support, after all–and Ash’d no doubt keep a sharp eye on him. He wouldn’t let him die on his watch, if only so his house wouldn’t be forever haunted by him after he was dead and gone.

Settling into their bed after getting the twins settled, Rob and Aerin just hoped that this was the End of any excitement and Insanity for a while.


	67. Sixty-Six

By the Time the Yuletide Season rolled around again, the divorce Andy’d filed for after that highly-eventful Night’d been finalized. With absolutely no desire to remain anywhere near his now-ex-wife, he’d talked to Ash about moving out to Tenn with him and his lil family. Unfortunately for him, the younger bassist didn’t trust him enough to let him move in with him, not even long enough to find a place of his own. However, while she didn’t trust him any further than she could throw him, Aerin turned out to be a saving Grace for him.

Rob’d been dubious at first, but since his older son’d recently bought and moved into a house of his own, he’d allowed himself to be convinced into letting the younger front man move in with them. He shared the mindset of wanting to keep friends close and enemies closer with his wife, who also pointed out that Andy was more than a lil afraid of her. To be quite honest, he seemed downright terrified of her, and therefore more likely to avoid her than get into a tussle with her. Ash didn’t have that advantage since they’d traded blows before, and none of them were quite sure what Aidan’d do, if he pissed _her_ off.

Now that he was divorced and technically moved across the country, the younger front man just needed to settle in more. He clearly wasn’t a big fan of the cold, even though he’d grown up in worse, but he saw how well the older bassist’d made the transition from living in Florida for thirty-plus Years. In addition to that, he was also closer to his hometown, which’d make visiting his parents for any reason and vice versa a lot easier.

“Mom and Dad still think I’m crazy for moving in with a couple friends of Ash’s,” Andy chuckled, gently bouncing the twins on his knees as their parents worked on breakfast.

“If they’ve half as much sense as the Goddess gave a dick, they’ll just be glad you’re still alive and working on getting your Life back in order,” the young woman told him, gesturing with the spatula she held.

“Da fuq’s _that_ supposed to mean?” he asked, looking a mite offended.

Her husband bit his wrist when he saw the devious glint in her eyes, apparently already knowing what her response was gonna be.

“Why, that’s simple,” Aerin said, grinning. “At least a dick knows it goes up, it goes down, it goes in, and it goes out.”

The younger front man veritably choked on his own spit as the older man totally lost it and had to excuse himself to the master suite.

“Admit it, ya dunce–I’ve a point with that, andja know it,” she chuckled.

“Can’t really argue and be right when ya put it like that,” Andy agreed. “I’m starting to see why Ash claimedja as his sister, and why Rob fell in Love with ya.”

“Don’t go getting ideas of making moves on me in your head, Biersack,” the young woman warned him.

“You’re fuckin’ shitting me, right?” he laughed. “I get the feeling Rob and Ash wouldn’t get a chanceta kill me, ’cuz you’d beat them to it, if I dared.”

“Damn right, I would.” Aerin nodded once as she Returned her attention to what she’d been working on.

“I just meant that–from what I can tell–you’re not as bad as ya seem at first,” the younger front man told her. “Sure, you’re stark-raving nuts, butcha care about those closeta ya and do everything ya can to see they’re safe, happy, and healthy.”

“The fact that I care _too_ much’s often been a failing of mine,” she admitted, her cheeks turning pink as her husband Returned.

“Personally, I’d rather have a woman who cared too much versus one who didn’t care enough,” Andy retorted.

“I know the feeling, kid,” Rob agreed, coming over with baby spoons and jars of baby food. “I was with my own ex-wife for thirteen Years when ya count dating and engagement, only to get outta the hospital and catch her in bed with my best friend from _outside_ my band.”

“Fuck, talk about a slap in the face,” he winced, helping him get Zep and Zeph in their high chairs. “But why were ya in the hospital immediately before that?”

Chuckling as he settled to feed his younger daughter, the Silver Fox explained what’d happened to his neck, starting back in the late-eighties. He still couldn’t help the slight bitterness that colored his voice as he explained how his ex-wife’d claimed to think it better to stay home with the kids. At the Time, he’d agreed since he’d been admitted to a hospital in Nebraska while on tour, even though he’d been desperate to see his family again. Looking back on that and her behavior immediately before he’d left for that tour, he shoulda known something else was up, but he’d chosen to trust Mishy and give her the benefit of the doubt.

Andy sighed as he nodded his agreement, quick to admit that something about his own ex-wife’s excuses’d always seemed _off_ to him. She’d always claim to have something elseta do when he’d tell her about Future treatment appointments, or claim she needed to keep her calendar open, just in case. It hadn’t seemed like the kinda thing a wife who gave a shit about him woulda or shoulda reacted to such a conversation topic.

On top of that, the younger front man admitted that he’d something else in common with Rob when it came to their past marriages. He’d married Juliet less than a Year after they’d met during _Warped Tour 2011,_ in March of 2012, ’cuz he’d been so sure of their relationship. Four Years later, they’d a vow Renewal ceremony that they’d publicly claimed was their actual wedding on their anniversary. It seemed that from there, everything’d started to go downhill, as if his ex-wife’d finally decided to show her true Colors.

“I tried to cover it all up for Years,” he sighed, nodding as the young woman served them and settled in her seat. “But when our attemptsta conceive kept failing, and everything got even worse…”

“And then, to get a cancer diagnosis on top of it all,” Aerin said, gently covering his hand before cracking open Zep’s chosen jar of applesauce.

“It was like my Life was falling apart at the seams,” Andy told them. “I couldn’t even stand to hear a ringtone of _Lost it All,_ ’cuz that was how I felt twenty-four-seven for the longest Time.”

“I remember that feeling all too well, just for different reasons,” she chuckled. “And I wasn’t kidding when I dared y’all to play that particular song to see just how Emotional I can get, if I feel like it.”

“Whaddaya mean?” the young front man queried. “On both counts.”

“Took me till I was twenty-five to even realize my mother’d abused me pretty much from the moment I was conceived,” Aerin answered. “Hence why ya hear Rob and I occasionally refer to someone as the _Birth Bitch,_ but neither of us’ll elaborate on _who_ we’re talking about.”

“Can’t say I’d be very willing to elaborate, especially with a perfect stranger,” he admitted.

“As for _Lost it All…”_ The young woman glanced at something over his shoulder, making him turn to follow her gaze.

“He looks a lot like Rob, if I’m honest,” Andy mused after turning around from studying the portrait hanging over the mantel.

“That was my pappaw,” she told him. “Growing up, I pretty much never called him anything but Bob.”

The young front man’s eyes widened. “Fuck, no Wonder ya won’t call your husband by his stage name.”

“Well, that and ’cuz I prefer _Rob_ when the situation doesn’t involve Poison,” said husband chuckled.

“But I can’t listen to the aforementioned song, ’cuz that was the one I was brokenly singing along with as my pappaw’s corpse was taken outta the house the Night he died in 2014,” Aerin continued.

His eyes widened again as her husband grabbed her hand, both of them hearing her already choking up.

“Ya know he’s in a better place, and that he likes seeing ya smile versus cry,” Rob told her.

Nodding as she Returned the tight squeeze he was giving her hand, the young woman collected herself quicker than Andy’d ever seen anybody else do. She shot a reassuring smile at both her babies, who were pouting and whimpering at seeing their mother upset, before turning her attention back to him. He could tell that whatever she was about to tell him next was a doozy just by what he could see glittering in her eyes.

Aerin made no bones about how hard her pappaw’s Death’d hit her, even though she and the rest of the family’d seen it coming all Year. She also minced no words in saying that’d it’d played a role in her threatening him the first Time they’d met, ’cuz she’d already been unstable that Day. Considering it woulda been Bob Crosswhite’s seventy-eighth birthday, had he lived longer than he did, that woulda been understandable. When one remembered that her birthday’d been the Day previous and hadn’t really been a happy Day for her, then his _Death-iversary_ was the Day after his birthday, it really was.

Hearing that made the young front man wince, ’cuz he now felt even worse about having chased Ash down that Day. Even though he hadn’t meant to, he’d only added to an already-stressful situation for her by merely showing up at her home. Trying to get to someone she obviously cared about deeply during such a hard Time’d just set her off and made her that much more unstable. In fact, he realized that if he hadn’t left when he did that Day, the younger bassist coulda very well been shipping his body to his parents for burial.

“Well, I dunno that I’d have gone _that_ far,” she laughed. “At least, not on _you._ Now, Juliet’s a completely different story since I’ve never gotten a good feeling about her, even long before I met her.”

“Whaddaya mean?” Andy queried, his expression curiously confused.

“Ever just looked at a person and been able to tell ya weren’t gonna get along with them before ya ever spoke to them?” the young woman countered.

“Only once or twice,” he answered, nodding.

“Well, I got that kinda feeling just from seeing a picture of Juliet online,” Aerin explained. “Her eyes just seemed too cold and calculating to me.”

“Kinda like yours can get when you’re about to go _nuclear Winter_ on us, as Aidan says,” the Silver Fox chuckled.

“No, that’s me flipping my humanity switch,” she retorted with a laugh.

“Humanity switch?” the young front man asked, looking bewildered.

_“Vampire Diaries_ reference, son,” Rob chuckled. “It’s when the Vamps on that show turn off their Emotions so they seem more like a walking Iceberg, usually ’cuz of something traumatic.”

“I learned how to compartmentalize a long Time ago,” the young woman explained when he nodded. “Now, flipping my humanity switch’s like taking that skill to the extreme.”

“How so?” Andy queried.

“’Cuz instead of just turning off one or two Emotions, I turn _all_ of ’em off,” she answered. “And it tendsta last Days, not just a few minutes or hours.”

“It’s fuckin’ freaky when she does it,” her husband said, unable to help a shiver. “It usually takes a lot to freak me out, but seeing my wife act like an Emotionless robot’ll do it.”

Aerin laughed as he winced and said that he hoped he never had to see it for himself, ’cuz he’d prolly be Fearing for his Life, if he did. Well, that was unless they were still a part of each other’s Lives by the Time her pappaw’s next _Death-iversary_ rolled around. It’d be understandable to see her flip her humanity switch during a Time like that, ’cuz that was prolly the only way she could avoid a total mental breakdown.

Rising to start cleaning up from breakfast, the young woman quickly corrected his assumption about when she’d be more likely to flip said switch. She tended to use those three Days in October as her _Purge Days_ for the express purpose of letting out any and everything she’d bottled up all Year. However, her last Christmas before her pappaw’s Death hadn’t been a good one, and it only added to her hatred of that particular overly-commercialized Day. The only way she could avoid flipping her shit and wanting to go to the prison her mother was incarcerated in to kick her ass wasta flip her humanity switch.

Andy realized that meant that he’d see such an occurrence sooner, rather than later as he helped with the cleanup. They’d already agreed to have his parents down to Tenn for the upcoming holiday, as well as his birthday, ’cuz it’d be easier than trying to Travel with even a single toddler. He obviously wouldn’t escape seeing that Emotionless carnage, as it were, unless he talked Ash into letting him spend the Night as his house, which he somehow doubted would happen.

Ten Days later, after celebrating _Yule_ with the Dalls, the Purdys, and a few of their combined friends, the Sun rose on Christmas Morn. Rob was up early like he almost always was, nursing his coffee as he set up to few additional presents that’d been bought this Year just for today. Since the Biersacks were devout Catholics, his wife’d decided to pretend that they did things like the vast majority of the World did, which meant acting like she wasn’t Pagan and that they didn’t celebrate _Yule_ instead of Christmas.

No one else in his household was up when he heard a key in the front door, which told him who it was as he finished up his task. The only people who’d a key, but didn’t actually live here were Ash and Aidan, so their use of said key gave them away. And he wasn’t disappointed in his assumption when he looked over his shoulder to see them and whom he assumed were Andy’s parents, Ember on her mother’s hip.

“Morn, Rob,” the younger bassist chuckled. “Need a hand up?”

“That’d be great, yeah,” Rob chuckled, grabbing the hand he held out to him.

“I’m guessing your knee’s being a lil shit?” the ginger queried with a chuckle of her own as he helped him up.

“Not as bad as before the replacement, but it’s being a hair irritable this Morn,” he answered once he was on his feet again. “So’s my neck, for that matter, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“Andy up yet, or is he being lazy?” Ash asked.

“I’m the only one up,” the older bassist chuckled. “Didn’t feel like dealing with a bunch of sour-pusses, so I left them abed.”

“Get ready to call EMS, sweetheart,” he laughed, turning toward Zach’s old room. “He might break my nose by the Time I get him out here.”

Laughing, Aidan gave him a quick kiss before turning her attention back to the others. “These’re Andy’s parents, Chris and Amy.”

“A pleasure,” Rob said as he held out his hand. “Considering what I’ve been told, I’m sure ya recognize me already.”

“Of course,” the other man chuckled. “We’d have to be a special kinda stupid _not_ to recognize Bobby Dall of Poison.”

“Well, not as of a couple months ago, and I prefer _Rob_ outside the band or anything to do with it,” he told them.

“Sorry, then,” Amy said, blushing slightly. “We didn’t know.”

Waving off her apology, the older bassist said that few knew his preference or why he even had it, if they didn’t know him personally. But as he grabbed his coffee mug from the mantel, he warned them to avoid slipping up once his wife got up for the Day. He wouldn’t say why outta Respect for her, just that his stage name could be a trigger for her on some of her worst Days, one of which was today.

Moments later, Andy shoved his former band mate outta his room with a growl, said bassist laughing as he rubbed the top of his head. From the looks of things, he’d beaned him pretty good with something for disturbing him when he was no doubt sleeping good. Luckily, seeing his parents in the living room quickly brightened his mood a bit, even though he still had yet to get coffee. He didn’t really get to see them very often, so he was definitely excited, especially after his recent divorce since that woulda no doubt dimmed anyone’s Christmastime Happiness.

Shortly thereafter, the group was joined by Aerin, Zoe, and the twins, the latter of whom greeted everyone with sleepy babbles. It was pretty obvious that the Biersacks were a bit surprised to see that his wife was so much younger than him, even though it was an increasingly common occurrence. They seemed even more surprised when the twins babbled _Daddy_ as well as they could for their age, their arms stretched out toward him as they pouted adorably.

“How can Daddy say no to those big, puppy-Dog eyes?” Rob chuckled, gladly taking them.

“They’re _really_ yours?” Chris asked, still looking surprised.

“Yeah, and believe me, they were a total accident,” the older bassist answered.

“An emergency surgery cut him off, and we were both more than a lil desperate once he got the all-clear,” Aerin explained. “Next thing ya know, I found out I was pregnant on our honeymoon.”

“A helluva wedding present, huh?” the young front man chuckled.

“Got that right,” he agreed. “Both the kids I had with my ex’re her age, so I thought I was done with babies till _they_ started spawning.”

“Apparently, ya weren’t,” Amy laughed.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, though,” Rob said before craning his head to mock-eat Zep’s chubby belly.

Said baby squealed and squirmed, his limbs flailing as he tried to get away while his sister giggled at his predicament. Moments later, it was his turn to laugh at Zeph as their daddy played fair by doing the same thing to her before dishing out raspberriesta those chubby bellies. Their laughter was like Music to the adults’ ears, though, as was Ember’s when her own daddy started goofing off with her ’cuz of the jealous looks she was shooting her uncle and cousins.

Once the half-asleep pair’d gotten their coffee, they were quick to Return to the living room so they could join the others. The younger bassist’d to more or less be a physical voice for Aerin alongside her husband when Amy tried thanking the Dalls for opening their home to her son. Both knew she didn’t exactly talk much pre-coffee, and if she did, she tended to be more temperamental than even a normal Day.

Even the younger front man was a bit surprised when she reached up and covered her husband’s mouth with her free hand, a bit of a dirty look shot at Ash. She told him that she needed the excuseta get woken up more and quicker, not to mention something elseta focus on. After having known her for a few Years, he’d finally been told why she despised the over-commercialized holiday most of the Planet celebrated. His eyes widened as he nodded, easily figuring out that the young woman’d rather have to focus on answering the Biersacks for herself versus being given a reason to flip her humanity switch.

“I’m not gonna lie and say I’m Andy’s number-one fan or anything of the sort, ’cuz I’m not,” she said.

“At least you’re honest about it,” his dad mused.

“I’m honest and loyal to a fault till given reason _not_ to be,” Aerin chuckled. “Takes a while for that to sink in, but I gave up caring what others thought of me a long Time ago.”

“Ya don’t look very old, though,” Amy said. “Unless you’re just baby-faced like Andy’s always been.”

“Just turned thirty in October, actually,” she revealed. “But I was prolly around fifteen when I stopped caring what my peers thought, still less than twenty-five when I gave up on my mother once and for all.”

“Let’s just say her mother was an abusive bitch who deserves what she got and leave it at that,” Aidan gently broke in when they looked curious.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it in a nutshell,” the young woman agreed. “When I finally got sick of her shit, I packed up what lil I owned that I wanted to keep and took off.”

Chris’ and Amy’s eyes widened as they started to understand.

“When Ash and I met, I was homeless and letting truckers gimme rides as far as they could in an attempt to get to Aidan,” Aerin continued. “All I’d to my name was my laptop, some clothes and hygiene gear, a couple shitty amps, two guitars, and a bass.”

“A helluva lot less than I’ve got now, for sure,” the young front man said.

“Exactly. If Ash’d been feeling like an ass–well, I’d have a criminal record instead of a best friend, surrogate brother, husband, stepkids, and _biological_ kids,” she told them. “Andy might be better off than I was when I was homeless, but I ain’t as cold-hearted as my mother.”

“At least somebody’s looking out for those around them,” the middle-aged woman mused.

“More like I believe in keeping my friends close, and my enemies closer,” the youngest woman retorted with a smirk.

“I don’t really blame ya for feeling like that about me,” Andy admitted on a sigh. “I fucked Ash over countless Times ’cuz I let others Influence me, so I kinda deserve to be hated for that.”

Reaching over since she was settled between him and her husband, Aerin told him that she couldn’t have said it better, herself. But he _didn’t_ deserve to be hated for taking out the stress caused by his Health problems on others, ’cuz if he did, then so did she and Rob. They were both just as guilty of doing that as he was, but none of their family and closest friends held it against them for the most part.

Chuckling as he killed off his mug, the older bassist admitted that his neck could act up pretty bad sometimes due to an old injury when they looked curious. The pain’d turn him into a pretty mean mother fucker, if he let it, especially when it got bad enough to trigger a migraine. But that and his knee acting up were comparable to his wife’s arthritis, which acted up in one way or another pretty much every Day. Nobody held those things against them, though, ’cuz they knew there was only so much they could do to combat their pain without becoming addicts for the remainder of their Lives.

Not really wanting to talk about such things anymore, the young woman soon got today’s festivities underway for the group. As young as they were, the trio of toddlers were simply excited to get more presents and couldn’t have cared less about the Timing. She was just grateful that they were too young to question the difference between _Yule_ and Christmas, and why their family celebrated the former, but usually not the latter. It’d still be a few Years before those things’d to be addressed, especially with her own lil Witchlings, and she knew it.

By the Time Andy’s parents headed back to their hotel that Eve, everybody’d seemed to enjoy each other’s company and had a good Time. However, one thing Aerin’d noticed and pointed out to her husband when they’d gone to put the twins down for their nap was the looks she’d seen the young front man shooting at Zoe. She didn’t know how her husband felt about him, let alone the possibility of him getting together with his older daughter. One thing she insisted on was that he keep in mind that she was a grown woman and capable of making her own decisions. If he turned out to be a decent guy who’d just been Influenced by the wrong people, there was no reason to keep them apart. But if he seemed more like an abusive ass, she’d be right there beside him to rip the young front man to shreds.

Knowing full well his wife’d a very valid point, Rob agreed to just sit back and observe like he’d been known for doing for decades. It wasn’t like Zoe was a lil girl who absolutely needed to be protected, even though he often still saw her as such. Then again, it was pretty normal to see her as the diaper-dirtying lil snot who loved snuggling with him that Zeph currently was. But since his older kids were grown, he knew he’d to let them make their own decisions, especially since they hadn’t tried to interfere in his own Love Life. At least his young wife was understanding enough that she didn’t blame him, if he didn’t necessarily agree with some of their decisions, as long as he kept his mouth shut unless absolutely necessary.


	68. Sixty-Seven

_February, 2024_

By the Time Valentine’s Day rolled around, Andy was definitely more settled in his new home, although he was still working on adjusting to the pace of country Life. He was used to things moving a lot faster from having grown up in Cincinnati, then moving to Los Angeles on top of it. Luckily, Rob understood exactly where he was coming from since the smallest Town he’d lived in before now was just outside Harrisburg, Penn. He remembered how it felt to move there from Miami, where he’d to adjust to not only the slower pace of the suburbs, but the far colder Weather.

As he was making those adjustments–which was also helped by _Triple A_ being homegrown country folk–he was also working on other aspects of his personal Life. While he never expected Ash to wanna work with him again, he at least wanted to get him back as a friend. Maybe not a _best_ friend like the good ol’ Days, but still a friend since he’d missed being able to just _shoot the shit_ with him, as Aerin said.

Still, there were other Changes going on within this oddball, but tight-knit family that the young front man was still kinda on the fringes of. It was about a week after New Year’s that Aidan found out she was pregnant again, which put all of them over the Moon. Course, Andy was a bit jealous when the news was shared, considering all the Years he and his ex-wife’d tried for a baby without any Success. Everybody understood his Jealousy, despite the Happiness he expressed for his estranged friend and the man’s wife, though.

“Look, I get being jealous,” Aerin was saying, having dragged him down to her Sacred Circle for the utmost privacy.

“I can’t help it–not after all those wasted Years,” he sighed, settled across the Fire she’d built from her.

“Like I said, I get it,” the young woman told him. “You’re not the only one who’s ever been jealous of those two.”

Andy merely cocked a brow at her, not quite sure what she was getting at.

“My Romantic history before Rob was pretty Dark,” she explained. “I mean, to the point that I actually went celibate for a few Years before I met him and Ash both.”

“I find that hard to believe, as sexual a being as ya seem to be now,” the young front man chuckled.

“The last Time I actually had sex before mine and Rob’s first date was in June of 2016,” Aerin said. “By the Time I met Rob, I’d honestly forgotten what a penis felt like in my hand, let alone _other_ body parts.”

“How the fuck didja _not_ go insane?” he asked, his jaw dropping.

“Can’t go where you’re already at,” the young woman laughed. “No, in all seriousness, I made do with sex toys. At least _they_ didn’t die till they needed new batteries, talk back to me, or cheat on me.”

“Fair enough, I guess,” Andy agreed with a nod. “Gods know the chemo fucked with _my_ performance, as it were.”

Laughing again, she said that he was better off taking up that particular problem with her husband–or better yet, Rikki. After all, they both dealt with _performance issues_ due to their advanced ages, but the latter also understood the part of cancer-induced erectile dysfunction. They might be able to suggest something he could at least give a try better than she could, considering she didn’t have to deal with such problems for fairly obvious reasons.

Nodding, the young front man said he’d at least consider her suggestion, but he doubted he’d actually do it–at least, not anytime soon. He was still so fresh outta his divorce that he wasn’t exactly sure that he was ready for even casual dating, let alone another serious relationship. After all, it’d take more than two or three monthsta truly Heal after giving up almost thirteen long Years of himself like that. The fact that his marriage’d been riddled with lies and abuse pretty much since its very inception certainly didn’t help with how fast or slow he’d Heal from such an experience.

However, Aerin knew damn good and well there was more to it than even that, and she wasn’t scared of calling him out on it. A smirk played at her lips as she told him not to even try bullshitting her, ’cuz she was a third-gen smartass and bullshitter, herself. Not only that, but she tended to notice a lot more than she let on and just kept her mouth shut till given reason to do otherwise.

“Don’t think I didn’t see the looks ya were shooting Zoe during _Yule_ and Christmas,” the young woman chuckled. “Or the ones you’ve been giving her since then.”

“What good would going after her do?” Andy queried. “Rob hates me and would prolly kill me just for smiling at her, and Zoe acts completely disinterested. Hell, that’s not even including Zach being an overprotective big brother, for that matter.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Andy,” she told him.

The young front man’s brows furrowed in confusion.

“Rob and Zach _don’t_ hatecha–they’re just quietly observing to form their own opinions aboutcha,” Aerin explained. “Rob’d rather get a blow-job that involves Pop Rocks from me, not cut off indefinitely.”

_“That’s_ whatcha mean when ya threaten him with that candy?” he laughed.

“Trust me, feels awesome to even a woman, ’cuz he turns that trick against me, too,” the young woman answered, nodding. “But not only that, he knows that whatever I cook up, should he interfere in his kids’ Love Lives unnecessarily, won’t be good.”

“Yeah, Ash _did_ say you’re a sadistic one,” Andy agreed with a nod of his own.

“Ya don’t even know the half of it,” she said. “But if _he_ wouldn’t allow said kidsta come between us just ’cuz of the age difference, where does he get the right to stop one of his kids from being with somebody, just ’cuz he doesn’t like their chosen partner, if there’s no abuse involved?”

“Good point.” The young front man nodded again. “And I’m guessing you’ve said more or less the same thing to Zach?”

“More like I told him I’d be right there with him and their dad to shredja, if ya were to ever get together with and hurt Zoe,” Aerin told him. “Rob took care of Zoe by sitting her down to talk about the aftermath of his own divorce from her mother to give her a better Understanding of how _you_ feel right now.”

“So, she _is_ interested, but trying to respect what I’ve been through and am still working on?” he asked, his eyes widening in surprise.

Nodding, the young woman told him that her stepdaughter’d been a fan of Black Veil Brides as much as her brother and their father. When they’d met and gotten to know Ash, they’d turned biased toward him and the rest of the band just like she was guilty of. But that didn’t stop her stepdaughter’s continued attraction to him, even though she’d never Dreamt that she’d actually get a chance with him.

Having been raised as a rock star’s daughter, Zoe already knew better than to treat him as anything less than human, or she’d wind up disappointing her daddy. However, she didn’t know a thing about being in a relationship for even a month upwards of a decade like they did. She also didn’t understand the level of Dedication and commitment that a marriage took, let alone how surviving a divorce after so long felt. It was for that reason that the older bassist’d sat her down and shared his own experience–to let her know that being interested and making it known wasn’t necessarily bad, but right now might not be the best Time for that.

Andy nodded as he reiterated that he honestly didn’t think he was ready to move on just yet, regardless of _who_ he was interested in. It’d no doubt be at least a few more months before he even wanted to casually date, let alone find himself in another serious relationship. Fuck only knew having kids was definitely the last thing on his mind now, considering he wanted to be in a serious, committed relationship again before allowing himself to be tied to any given woman like that.

Grabbing and gently squeezing his hand over the Fire, Aerin agreed that he needed to take things slower than he prolly wanted to. She admitted that she’d once made the mistake of jumping into a new relationship almost as soon as her previous one’d Ended, and it hadn’t Ended well. Not only had she lost one of her best friends not quite a decade later due to stupid choices on both their parts, but it’d fed her distrust toward men. It’d also added to her decision to eventually give up on men and go celibate aside from her sex toys, which she only turned to outta necessity. She didn’t wanna see anyone else make the same mistakes she had, whether she loved or hated them, and that even went for the young front man.

Three months later, as the Sabbat of _Beltane_ was rolling around, things’d seemingly settled down for pretty much everybody. Ash and Aidan were busy preparing for the Birth of their second child, which was said to be a baby boy by the OB/GYN that’d provided care during her first pregnancy. Said lil man wasn’t due till sometime near the End of August, maybe the middle of the month at the absolute earliest. Either way, both his parents were excited to the point of veritably vibrating from their excitement, although his daddy was incredibly nervous due to his family history.

At the same Time, Andy’d been working on a lot more than just restoring his friendship with the younger bassist. He’d managed to make friends with Zach, who was still more than a lil skeptical of him and his Intentions–especially in regardsta his sister–but willing to give him a chance. In addition to that and at least getting on neutral terms with the ginger, he’d gotten onto better terms with the older bassist and his wife.

It was while said wife was setting up for something later that Night that the young front man managed to catch him while he was alone. Rob was just finishing up with paying that month’s bills when he found him in the front room that opened into both the foyer and dining room. He wasn’t entirely sure whether to call it a den or an office, but he _did_ know one thing–he wasn’t gonna just walk in uninvited.

“What’s up, kid?” he asked, gesturing for him to c’mon in when he glanced up and saw who it was.

“Just wanted to talk about something, if you’ve a minute,” Andy answered.

“Well, you’re in Luck since I just finished up with the bills and the twins’re still napping,” the Silver Fox told him as he closed his laptop.

“Hopefully, what I gave ya helped at least a lil,” he said as he settled on the Love seat across from his desk.

“Kid, I toldja thatcha didn’t have to pay me shit to Begin with,” Rob chuckled. “I’ve been at this long enough that I’ll never be able to spend everything in my bank account, and I’ve more pouring in from smart investments _outside_ my band and the restaurant I lost a few Years ago.”

“Still makes me feel better to do my part beyond helping out around the house,” the young front man argued half-heartedly.

“Not a bad thing in the slightest,” he assured him. “I’m just saying that it ain’t necessary, especially since you’re still recouping your losses from that divorce and cross-country move.”

“And that pretty much opens the door to what I was wanting to talk about,” Andy chuckled, sounding a hair nervous.

The Silver Fox merely cocked a brow as he crossed his arms, his legs already crossed at the ankle where he’d stretched them out in front of himself.

“I’m not gonna lie, or try to beat around the bush,” he said. “I haven’t been able to help my attraction to Zoe since I met her.”

“So I’ve noticed, especially once Aerin pointed out the looks she noticedja giving her,” Rob mused.

The young front man couldn’t help how his Anxiety momentarily Sky-rocketed, if only ’cuz of the slightly-hardened look to the eyes gazing at him. He hadn’t felt like this with even his ex-girlfriend Scout back when he was a teenager far dumber than the man he was now. Course, while Scout’s father’d loved and cared about her, he hadn’t struck him as the overprotective type like this man did. Maybe that was why he felt so nervous and was wondering if he should even bother brooching the subject at hand.

“Look, son–I’m not gonna slaughter and eatcha,” he chuckled. “Human’s not very tasty unless of a certain variety, hint hint.”

“Oh, God–you’re as bad as Aerin!” he laughed, finally starting to relax a bit.

“Nah, I’m worse,” the Silver Fox corrected him. “If you’ll recall, I was needing condom dispensers on my bus when _you_ were still in diapers.”

“Meaning you’ve had plenty of Time to get into all kindsa shit,” Andy mused.

“Not to mention decide that _all_ my kids deserve better than the pussy-hound I used to be or their female equivalent,” he said, leaving no room for argument.

“I’d like to think I’ve gotten that outta my system by now,” the young front man retorted.

“No man ever truly does–he just finds the one woman who can keep him tied down, yet set him free to fly at the same Time,” Rob told him. “’Cuz I’d be lying, if I said that I didn’t find women other than my wife beautiful. I just don’t feel the need to go chasing their skirts like I woulda thirty or forty Years ago since Aerin more than takes care of me.”

“Yeah, she told me about the Pop Rocks trick,” he chuckled.

Swearing he’d get her back for revealing that part of their intimate Life, the Silver Fox didn’t try to deny that that was one of the many things Aerin did to or for him. But all sexual talk aside, he said that she was also his best friend and most trusted confidant, the one who could Calm him from a Hurricane to just an afternoon Rain shower, so to speak. It’d been her to help him the most while recovering from surgery, especially in the Autumn of 2021, and it was her whose _magick hands_ could get his neck to stop hurting and dispel any migraines that resulted from that old spinal injury.

“And I more or less do that kinda shit for her,” he said. “Her hip getsta acting up or something, and I’ll pick her up and carry her, even if it sets off my neck.”

“Sounds like some serious Dedication,” the young front man mused.

“No, that was going to get my nuts filleted the afternoon Zep and Zeph were born,” Rob laughed. “Then actually getting up with them more than she did with stitches in my sac and a jock strap.”

“Ouch, man!” he chuckled, despite his wince.

“It wasn’t _that_ painful, even after the local wore off,” the Silver Fox told him. “Definitely on the uncomfortable side, but I took a leftover Vicodin at bedtime the first Day or two so even that slight ache wouldn’t keep me up.”

Andy’s expression turned contemplative as he pondered that.

“But that’s the kinda guy I’ve always wanted Zoe to End up with,” he continued. “Not necessarily one identical to me, but one willing to do everything he could to take care of her while setting her free at the same Time like Aerin and I do for each other.”

“Total one-eighty from how ya were in your Youth, right?” the young front man chuckled.

“Hey, nothing wrong with being driven and ambitious,” Rob laughed. “But don’t be letting that come before the woman you’re with like I did, whether that woman’s my daughter or someone else.”

“So, you’re _not_ gonna kill me, if I so much as ask her out on a date?” he queried.

“Treat her right and get her consent, andja could string her up in a Tree out back to fuck her, for all I care,” the Silver Fox told him. “But fuck her over–especially like ya once did to Ash–and you’ll Wish you’d never met me. Clear as mud?”

Andy nodded vigorously, assuring that he coulda heard him loud and clear, even if he’d been on the Moon or another Planet. He could tell he was being a hard-ass ’cuz he cared, not simply to be an ass, and he didn’t wanna give him reason to Change that. Besides, he could also tell there were Hidden facetsta his personality he doubted anyone’d wanna confront, if they even remotely valued their Life.

Rob chuckled as he finally moved to push himself up from his chair, glad they’d come to an understanding on that so quickly and easily. He said he’d keep Zach reined in so he wouldn’t do anything stupid without being given a damn good reason to. All he’d to do was remind him of having to wash his and the guys’ dirty underwear by hand as punishment for something he’d done on one of Poison’s Summer tours when he was a teenager, and that he could always get worse. The older Dall son still cringed in horror at the memories since they’d all made sure at least one pair’d a skid mark or two just to make it that much worse for him.

The young front man couldn’t help cracking up, even though he made no bones about that having been a rather disgusting punishment. He could imagine that the young man who was but ten Days older than himself wouldn’t want a repeat of that in any Lifetime, ’cuz he certainly wouldn’t. If it gave him a chanceta prove himself as a decent guy capable of treating Zoe right, though, he’d try not to laugh at the poor guy so he could keep himself outta trouble.


	69. Sixty-Eight

Later that Night, once Zep and Zeph’d been put to bed for the Night and their big sister was keeping an ear out for them, Rob and Aerin headed out to her Sacred Circle. They’d never actually enacted the _Great Rite,_ mostly due to scheduling conflicts, but also ’cuz the young woman avoided actual spell work at all costs. But just ’cuz they weren’t Intent on actually enacting a Pagan Ritual didn’t mean they couldn’t celebrate _Beltane_ with a romp, whether indoors or out.

As was common for this Time of Year, it was still chilly enough to need some kinda heat source once the Sun was set. Given that the second of the Spring Sabbats was technically a Fire festival, Aerin insisted that they’ve a small Fire for said heat source, rather than a kerosene heater. He wasn’t about to argue with his wife, ’cuz while he’d never officially converted, he wasn’t gonna disrespect her Spirituality, if he could help it.

Once the Fire was lit and burning well enough to keep them warm once they’d disrobed, they started to fall into their typical lovers’ Ritual. Due to how long it took to get him truly riled up, the young woman took the lead to start with by gently shoving him onto his back. She pretty much never straddled him for long due to her hip, but that didn’t stop her from laying on her side next to him. As long as she didn’t put pressure on her left hip or straddle him for too long, she was good to go, and they both knew it.

Rob couldn’t help a groan as she started attacking his hot spots, starting with his ears since she knew he loved having them suckled and nibbled. Hell, there was even something about feeling her stab her tongue deep into their canals that sent Lightning bolts straight to his crotch. But that was the whole Intent, to rile him up so that he was almost painfully aroused since that always made their romps better.

Eventually, his Natural Dominance demanded that he take Control and reciprocate what’d been done to him thus far. Letting out a soft, but clearly aroused growl, he was careful about using his weight to toss his wife to the side so he could crouch over her. The look in his eyes as he loomed over her moments later was already half-crazed, but the young woman simply smiled up at him as she raised her armsta wrap them around his neck. She already knew that he’d never Intentionally hurt her, so she didn’t particularly care what he did to her, as long as it resulted in their mutual pleasure. It was that desired End result that made her focus entirely on her husband, to the point that she didn’t notice anyone else come outside any more than he did as they really got into their groove.

Andy’d stepped out back for some Air so he could shore up his nerve since he Intended to ask Zoe out, now that he’d more or less gotten her daddy’s Blessing. He’d thought he was alone since it was a bit chilly, but hearing something from the far End of the pool caught his attention rather quickly. Careful not to make a Sound, he crept closer to the retaining wall that separated the pool deck from the patio under the actual deck. It was from this vantage point that he caught the flickering of a small campfire or something along those lines. Letting his vision adjust allowed him to see that there were two people on the far side of the Fire, and after a few moments, he caught sight of what _had_ to be gray hair.

_“Ohhhh,_ Rob,” he heard as one of the bodies arched upward.

A growled response met his ears, and he just barely made out, “Like that, huh, Baby Dall?”

“Gods, ya know I fuckin’ love it!” Aerin mewled, reaching up to quite literally rip his shirt open.

“Hey, I like to be able to close my shirts eventually!” the Silver Fox laughed.

“Buttons’re for squares!” she retorted as she sent those very objects flying. “And so’re britches, ya big-dicked Neanderthal!”

“I love it when ya talk dirty to me,” Rob chuckled, pushing himself up so he could lose even the tank top he wore under his casual button-up.

“I’ma do more than just talk dirty to ya,” the young woman swore as she sat up.

“That so, huh?” he queried, clearly goading her.

“I’ma give ya a reason to tell me what your brain looks like,” Aerin answered, pushing him backward so he was sprawled on his back again.

_“Mmm,_ now you’ve my undivided attention,” the Silver Fox said, groaning as she settled her weight in his lap.

“No, scratch that,” she said, a devious note coloring her voice. “I’ma make ya see the Gods for giving me a try.”

“You’ll be seeing them, too, from being under the spell of the Voodoo Dall again,” Rob declared.

Andy couldn’t help his Curiosity as he continued watching and listening to their playful, yet clearly sexual banter. There was a part of him that knew he should just go back inside and leave them to it since they’d obviously sought privacy out here. But there was another part of him that wondered if he could learn a thing or two from the other couple, whether they realized he did or not.

They seemed to do more rolling around and attacking well-known hot spots than they didn’t for the next good while. It didn’t really seem there was much of anything new that he could learn–till he felt something odd and realized that there was something more at play. Unless he was mistaken, the young front man was feeling a literal shift in the Air around him, almost like a static charge or something. Continuing to watch the amorous couple made him realize that it wasn’t just an Energetic shift, or an exchange of physical Power based on who was on top–there was a psychological side to it, too.

Before long, even though it seemed to take forever, the Silver Fox was pinning his wife beneath him like a lotta guys did. However, instead of having her sprawled out on her back, he’d positioned her so that she was face-down and damn near eating dirt. Her back was arched in what looked like an incredibly painful manner, her tits squashed almost completely flat by the weight of her upper body. And her neck also seemed like it was twisted into a painful position as he stuffed their shed clothing under her pelvis and lower belly.

Aerin let out a long, loud moan that was higher-pitched than even her singing voice as her husband pressed his hips against her that made their voyeur jump. She was already slipping into subspace, so even if she’d noticed said voyeur before, she wouldn’t have paid him any attention now. Her focus was solely on her husband and what he was doing to her as he pushed in till he’d bottomed out, which never failed to surprise them. After all, she wasn’t kidding when she called him a _big-dicked Neanderthal,_ and she was a lot smaller–inside and out–than she might seem at first. But that was one of many things that made the sex so much better for them–he could fill her up so much more completely, and she could put him in more of a vice grip.

“What’re ya watching so Intently?”

Andy jumped again when he heard a completely different voice behind him and felt a hand grab his arm. “Uh, I wouldn’t stay out here, if I were you, Zoe.”

The older Dall daughter cocked a brow at him as he turned to look at her over his shoulder.

“Consider yourself warned,” he chuckled, careful to keep his volume low. “Right or wrong of me to stay out here, I’m not the one who’s gonna get an eyeful by watching my dad get his funk on.”

“Wait, what?” Zoe gently pushed past him, her jaw dropping at what she saw. “Why’re ya watching Aerin and Daddy go at it?”

“Didn’t realize what they were doing at first,” the young front man said nonchalantly. “They still had their clothes on when I realized I wasn’t the only one out here.”

“You’re sick, Andy,” she said, even though she couldn’t help a soft giggle.

“No, that’d be if I were anywhere closeta getting off on watching them,” Andy snickered. “And I can safely say that’s not the case.”

The younger woman’s eyes widened as she stared at him.

“Call it _research,_ if ya will, since grabbing me by the crotch won’t do anything but prove I’m not even half-hard,” he chuckled.

“Why wouldja–” Zoe started, only to be cut off by another loud moan and a growl.

_“Shhhh,”_ the young front man hissed, quickly covering her mouth. “Let’s just say learning new tricks isn’t a bad thing, and sex with my ex-wife felt lacking, to say the least.”

She just barely managed a nod in responseta his statement, her eyes still locked on the other couple on the other side of the campfire. They were illuminated just enough to see the basic gist as Rob started a slow, gentle rhythm, really nothing more than silhouettes. But that meant they’d be blinded, if they looked toward the back deck and the patio that was directly beneath it. It was for that reason that he tried to keep this young woman quiet as he attempted to turn her back toward the basement door.

But it seemed that the young woman was frozen solid as she watched in morbid fascination, as if she was still a lil kid that’d accidentally walked in on her parents. Maybe she’d gotten it into her head that her father was too old for sex and had undergone a sperm retrieval behind everyone’s backs. Even if that wasn’t the case, she seemed far more enthralled than most kids did at just the Thought of their parents going at it.

It wasn’t long before all any of them could hear was flesh smacking flesh and screams muffled only by the bandana Rob’d eventually shoved into his wife’s mouth. Andy got the feeling he’d done that simply ’cuz they were outside and he didn’t want the cops called on them. She was clearly a noisy one, far more vocal during sex than the younger man realized or ever woulda thought when he’d first met her. Looking back on it, he couldn’t figure out how he’d never heard them going at it in the five or six months he’d lived here since he could be quite the insomniac. The only thing he could think of was that their room was soundproofed for during colder Weather and they came out back when it was warm enough.

Outta nowhere, they heard a growl that was mixed with a deep, guttural groan through the heavy, ragged breathing coming from the couple. Although broken and almost too soft to make out, they heard the Silver Fox growl, _Sing for me, my lil Siren–lemme hear ya. Come for me, darlin’–I wanna feel ya_. Both their voyeurs simply watched and listened, jumping when Aerin let out a shriek they coulda sworn woulda blown out windows, if she hadn’t been gagged. That shriek was quickly followed by a howl from the older man, which was only muffled by him burying his face in his wife’s shoulder and biting down hard.

Almost as soon as it’d Begun, the shrieking and howling died away and was replaced by breathing that was heavier and even more ragged than before. Zoe was clearly concerned when she saw her father collapse and seemingly crush her stepmother under his weight. The young front man gently held her back, saying that he doubted either one was dead, or that they needed any help. He didn’t think it was wiseta alert the couple by barging in on the tail End of their intimate moment together, especially like that. And he was proven right when the Silver Fox shakily pushed himself upright, his hips gently pulling back as he extricated himself from his still-limp wife. Even though she let out a mewl that sounded kinda _off,_ it seemed that at least one of them was still somewhat with it, which was a good thing.

“C’mon, _la mia Musica Strega,”_ they heard after Rob’d gotten his boxers and jeans back on. “Ya gotta work with me.”

“I floatin’, and I can’t get up,” she giggled as he rolled her onto her back.

“Jeez, this is my birthday of 2020 all over again,” the Silver Fox laughed. “We’re just outside in Tennessee, not in my bedroom in Florida this Time.”

Aerin simply continued to giggle as he managed to get her dressed like she was one of their toddlers.

“Shit, I might need help getting ya back in,” he sighed, an attempt at picking her up not working out so well.

“Ask, and ye shall receive,” Andy chuckled, finally revealing his presence as he climbed up on the retaining wall.

“What the–” Rob actually jumped as he whirled around to face him. “Oh, Gods–I’m scared to ask how much ya saw, kid.”

“Enough that I’d be scarred for Life, if ya were _my_ dad,” he laughed as he approached.

“The hell were ya doing outside, though? I thought you’d already gone to bed,” the Silver Fox said as he knelt down.

“Came out for some Air to shore up my nerve on what we talked about earlier,” Andy answered. “Wasn’t trying to be a voyeur or anything, but I didn’t think you’d like winding up with blue balls ’cuz me going back in startledja and killed the mood.”

“No more than Aerin’d like a case of what she calls _pink pussy_ from that happening,” he admitted. “Just don’t let it become a habit, or we might be tempted to gouge your eyes out.”

“Wasn’t planning on it,” the young front man assured him. “I’d rather not watch anyone else as opposed to going at it, myself.”

Joining his soft laughter, Rob warned him that his wife was practically dead weight as he made to scoop up her prone form. He didn’t want him to hurt himself by thinking she was gonna grab on when he picked her up, but she proved just how outta it she really was. After all, she was pretty much as good as high and drunk on her own endorphins, which pretty much turned her into a rag doll every Time this happened.

Nodding, Andy was both careful and gentle about scooping her up bridal-style so she was cradled against his chest. That included shrugging slightly to attempt readjusting her head when it flopped limply over his arm, which’d no doubt hurt her neck later. However, that attempt failed miserably, forcing her husband to pull her head up onto his shoulder so it was actually supported. Feeling that elicited a slight response outta her, her eyes cracking open and a whimper drifting up from her throat. She apparently realized it wasn’t her husband who was holding her, which made her try to sit up more and push herself away.

The Silver Fox was quick to reassure her, quietly telling her that she was just too limp for him to carry inside and then to their bedroom. He swore that he wasn’t abandoning her, that he was just making sure the Fire was out before he followed the young man who was carrying her tonight. Clearly, there was more going on here than met the eye, but said young man couldn’t bring himself to ask as he marginally tightened his grip on her and turned to head into the house.

Aerin still whimpered as he started up the stairs closest to the pool, a couple tears even streaming down her cheeks. She apparently wasn’t satisfied till her husband started up those same stairs, quickly catching up since he’d paused by the back door to wait on him. What struck him as odd, though, was how she seemed more like a lost, scared child than an Independent grown woman. He couldn’t figure out why she’d be acting like that just from having sex with her husband, ’cuz he’d never seen that happen to anyone else. Said husband seemed amused by his confusion, simply telling him not to worry about it right now since he was too tired to explain it. The good thing and what mattered most was that he knew how to handle the situation, so she’d eventually be just fine, rather than being a permanently broken mess.

Once he’d set the young woman down on the couple’s bed, he was quick to excuse himself once assured his help was no longer needed. Rob chuckled as he closed the master bedroom door behind him, no doubt in his mind that the poor guy’d seen and heard enough outside. In fact, he wouldn’t be surprised if he was headed off to at least attempt getting his own rocks off now as he turned back to his wife. As he stripped her before stripping himself again, he’d be surprised to find out that watching them _hadn’t_ been arousing to the younger man at one point or another. However, he was more inclined to get some sleep so he could focus on bringing Aerin down from her high the next Day than on the man who might become his older daughter’s boyfriend.


	70. Sixty-Nine

It took about a week for Aerin to recover from their _Beltane_ shenanigans, which wasn’t a surpriseta her husband in the slightest. That was how long it usually took her to come down from her high when she wound up in subspace, whether it was caused by a vanilla Night or an actual scene with Ash. If he were completely honest with himself, the older bassist wasn’t inclined to worry unless she took more than a week and wasn’t making much progress, now that he was more knowledgable than when they’d first met.

While she was napping with the twins since she’d already been fatigued and her period had hit on top of it, Rob’d decided to head out to the garage. He’d woken up in what his wife called a _fuck-or-fight_ mood this Morn, but he knew that sex was outta the question right now. It wasn’t exactly about whether the young woman was feeling up to such a thing or not, despite the cramps caused by her cycle. Even as a young man who wasn’t particularly picky, he drew the line at anything that involved his junk and blood. There was just nothing appealing about even the Thought of that, and the smell wasn’t all that pleasant to him, either.

But even as he let out a grunt from raising the hundred and fifty pounds he was benching, the Silver Fox was deep in Thought. He’d always taken Pride and Comfort in being the quiet, Mysterious one of his former band, and he definitely valued his privacy. Considering that he still valued his privacy, he was mulling over the idea of actually writing his own memoir, and whether he’d actually publish it, if he did.

“Mind if I join ya?”

Looking up at hearing a voice just as he lowered his dumbbell back to its rack, he chuckled when he saw Andy. “Why the hell not? Having a workout buddy never hurt anybody.”

“Prolly helped more people than it’s hurt, especially with weightlifting,” the young front man chuckled.

“Yeah, I don’t usually bench anything unless Zach’s around to be my spotter,” Rob agreed. “But I woke up in a _fuck-or-fight_ mood, as Aerin calls it, and sex’s outta the question right now.”

“Her hip acting up again?” he asked, looking concerned.

“Not as far as I know.” The Silver Fox shook his head as he sat up. “But even if it’s not, she’s already in enough pain, and I draw the line at anything to do with blood and my junk.”

Andy’s eyes widened as it Dawned on him. “Don’t blame ya, ’cuz I’ve never been a big fan of that, either.”

“Not to mention menstrual blood fuckin’ stinks,” he laughed. “But I know it can’t be helped, so I just keep my mouth shut about it.”

“Same here,” the young front man agreed, handing him a Water bottle. “Gotta say, you’re lookin’ good for your age, man.”

“Always been the most baby-faced of Poison, if ya don’t count Richie, and I prefer the muscle over having Chicken legs,” Rob told him. “Keeps more than my knee from acting up for the most part, too.”

After guzzling half the Water bottle he’d been handed, he explained that he’d actually always been the most Self-conscious of his former band. Sure, he was usually pretty outgoing and a shameless flirt, but it’d been mostly a _façade_ that he threw up to fend off the World. If he was drunk, it got even worse since–with no inhibitions–he either couldn’t hold himself back, or he held back too much, depending on his mood.

Rob chuckled at how ridiculous he sounded to himself as he admitted that the clothing style of the eighties hadn’t helped him in the slightest. Most guys’d kill to be hung like he was, but he’d always found his size to be more humiliating than something to be proud of before meeting his wife. Having himself put on such an obvious display by all the spandex and leather just made him wanna cross his legs and hope he flattened himself more often than not. In fact, he’d been known to snap at photographers that maybe they oughta go X-rated by turning things into a porno shoot since his clothing left almost nothing to the Imagination.

Laughing, Andy admitted that he’d felt like that on more than one occasion, particularly during BVB’s _Set the World on Fire_ era. That was why he was often seen wearing several belts, scarves, and/or bandanas that were strategically placed to hide his crotch. After all, wearing a cod piece’d been Jinxx’s thing, not his, but he didn’t feel that denim was _rock ‘n’ roll_ enough for the aesthetic they’d been shooting for. However, he wasn’t quite the show-off that Ash’d seemed to be back then, hence why he’d disguised his crotch as much as he could.

“I know the feeling,” the Silver Fox agreed. “I remember one Time, we did a show in nothing but our underwear.”

“Seriously?” he asked, laughing again.

“I shitcha not,” Rob chuckled. “Folks were saying that we were completely fake, so we did one of our shows on the _Cat Dragged In_ tour in our boxers.”

“Somehow, I doubt I coulda gotten anyone but Ash to do that,” the young front man said. “And even then, he prolly woulda had to be drunk off his ass before he actually did it.”

“Times were different back then, kid,” he told him, sighing as he smiled somewhat sadly. “Simpler, but at the same Time, a lot harder.”

“Ya know, ya could prolly write a helluva memoir about it,” Andy mused. “No doubt better than the one I did a few Years ago since you’ve easily two more decades of craziness ya could get into.”

“I was actually thinking about that when ya joined me,” the Silver Fox admitted, reaching over to grab one of his twenty-pound weights for some arm-curls.

“Why don’tcha do it, then?” he queried. “Maybe it won’t be like that book Mötley Crüe did, but I bet it’d still be a helluva read.”

_“The Dirt,_ ya mean?” Rob countered with a chuckled grunt. “Nah, nothing like that. Course, I wouldn’t publish _those_ parts of my Life, if I wrote a memoir.”

“’Cuz ya don’t want folks knowing about the Time ya shit in a cereal box and mailed it to a newspaper editor.”

Looking up toward the garage door, his face turned pink when he saw his grinning wife. “I don’t even wanna know how ya found out about that, sweetheart.”

“Same thing you’re glad _wasn’t_ around in the eighties,” Aerin laughed. “And not ’cuz I was Intentionally looking for it.”

“Wait, did he _really…?”_ The young front man’s jaw dropped as his face turned even redder.

Still laughing as she settled so she was straddling him from behind, she admitted that she still didn’t actually know if that was true or not. After all, she’d been doing a Google search after reading something about him suffering a spinal injury, so she hadn’t been trying to dig up anything humiliating. The point wasta find out if that spinal injury’d occurred in the late-eighties or early-nineties, and she’d stumbled across a former manager’s claim that he’d done that. But it was funny to tease him with it, ’cuz for all that she knew about him as a man now, his younger Self was like a Ghost hiding in the Shadows.

Rob chuckled as he switched arms, saying that he honestly didn’t remember a lotta the earliest Days with his former band. Either they’d been rough enough for anybody to wanna forget, or he blamed alcohol-induced memory loss for not remembering. He’d done his fair share of drinking and then some, as depicted in one of the scenes in the _Every Rose_ video, after all.

“I mean, that’s part of the reason I’m waffling on writing my own memoir,” the Silver Fox grunted. “Hard to remember a lot from back then, or I’d wind up dragging folks like my ex-wife into it.”

“Yeah, I could see that being problematic, in and of itself,” Andy agreed, nodding.

“Mishy never liked the notoriety that came with being married to me,” he said. “Why she ever said _yes_ since she knew what that’d entail right from the get-go still baffles me.”

“Seriously, ’cuz not everybody’s like me,” his wife said.

“Whaddaya mean?” Andy queried.

“I more so take Rob’s approach–buy a $100 concert ticket and I’ll give ya a $400 show, but the rest of the Time’s mine,” she answered. “Meaning I’ll hit the stage with the guys every once in a while or join the occasional interview, but otherwise, lea’me alone.”

“Aside from just not wanting the media digging into my personal Life, I’ve always been the Secretive Scorpio to protect my family,” Rob said. “That hasn’t Changed since Zach and Zoe were kids, and honestly, I’ve no desire to talk to my ex-wife about it so she won’t sue me.”

“Something tells me she prolly wouldn’t, if ya didn’t go any further than recalling how y’all met or how scrambled your mind was when she first went into labor with Zach,” the young woman mused.

“Ugh, now _that_ was a Night I’ll never forget, regardless of how much I drank after he was born,” he laughed.

Aerin couldn’t help but join his laughter as she hauled herself up just enough to kiss him over his shoulder once he turned slightly. Patting his other shoulder as she pushed herself up, she said that she was gonna leave them to their manly talk since she could feel that he kinda didn’t want her overhearing a lotta what was on his mind. But as she headed toward the garage door with quite the limp, she said that she’d support whatever decision he made on writing his own memoir, whether she agreed or disagreed.

Once the door’d closed behind her, Andy chuckled as he said that now, he really saw why he’d fallen in Love with this young woman. Even though she was young enough to be his daughter, she was pretty laid-back and seemed to realize that she couldn’t force him into doing anything he truly didn’t wanna. Instead, she seemed to play the _devil’s advocate_ to get him to see things differently, but still had his back regardless.

Chuckling as he snagged his Water bottle again, the Silver Fox agreed that his wife was definitely _one-of-a-kind,_ if she wasn’t anything else. He couldn’t help his fond smile as he recalled her behavior when they’d first met, how she didn’t seem to care that he was old enough to be her father. Never in his Life’d he met another woman who basically said _Whatcha see’s whatcha get–take it or leave it, big boy_ and meant every word she said. It was part of why he’d decided to quit his band and just enjoy his Golden Years–he couldn’t bear to lose her any more than she’d wanna lose him. And he definitely didn’t wanna leave Zep and Zeph with only pictures, videos, and the memories of othersta remember him by.

Pushing himself up once he decided he’d gotten enough of a workout, Rob said he was heading in for a shower unless the young front man was gonna do any bench-presses. He still wasn’t entirely sold on writing that memoir, and not only would a shower get him clean, but he often thought the best when Water was involved. A smile curved his lips as he said that his wife swore that meant he’d be a Water Witch, of he were to ever convert to Paganism.

Andy said that he wasn’t really feeling up to benching anything, that he’d prefer to just focus on his biceps for the Time being. Nodding, he headed to the Bridge that connected houseta garage so he could grab that shower he was wanting. He didn’t like the sticky feeling of his sweaty flesh any more than he liked how jumbled and Cloudy his mind felt at the moment. Maybe he’d grab his laptop once he got out and just start typing, see what he even remembered so many Years later. Just ’cuz he started typing didn’t necessarily mean he’d to publish what came outta the recesses of his brain, after all. Besides, even if he never published it himself, that didn’t mean it wouldn’t make a good read for his family and jog a few memories for certain friends. Not only that, but maybe it’d be something the public finally got to see once he was dead and gone, hopefully decades from now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, I know, but I've been suffering some _Writer's Block_ on this one. That, and this chapter was never really meant to be more than a filler, anywhore.
> 
> And here's a link to the interview where the guys admitted playing a show in their drawers way back when... LOL! I knew I'd seen it somewhere, and trying to find it again was part of what made this chapter so short...  
> ~Firefly
> 
> Link to Joan Rivers Interview with Poison–https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GHEy9UyJeYE


	71. Seventy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanna put a disclaimer here before we dive into this chapter. Other than what I know about him having a discectomy and spinal fusion due to a couple herniated discs and what lil he's said about his past alcoholism, I'm considering everything I've written about Bobby Dall in this chapter to be purely fictional. He's such a private guy outside Poison–which I more than respect–that it's almost impossible to fact check anything I find on him. Between that and knowing I'm not ever likely to meet him and be able to ask about certain things, I'd prefer to simply claim those things as just a plot for the story.  
> ~Firefly

By the Time Ember’s and the twins’ second birthday rolled around, Rob’d surprisingly written quite a bit more than he’d ever expected to, if he were to write a memoir. Well, it was more so his wife dictating what he recalled, ’cuz he’d absolutely no typing skillsta be spoken of, whereas her fingers could fly on a keyboard. In fact, she’d barely get behind and have to get him to repeat something–and more often than not, she wouldn’t even be looking at her computer screen, let alone her keyboard.

Starting with his earliest memories, he went all the way back into his childhood after his Birth in Miami, Florida. It was the first Time he’d ever gone into detail about having been abandoned by his Birth father before he was even born, which’d quite the effect on him. After all, once he’d found out that the man he’d called _Dad_ as a child was actually his stepdad when he was twelve, he’d gone more than a lil ape-shit over it.

Finding out that his dad wasn’t who he’d thought he was at such an impressionable age’d played quite the role in his Future dependence on alcohol. It’d also caused a rift between himself and his former band mates–even Richie–that none of them’d ever known about. After all, the blondes and even the younger brunette seemed to have the kinda relationship with their dads that he woulda killed to’ve had with his own. The Silver Fox hadn’t been able to help the Jealousy he’d felt toward them, although he’d long ago learned to live with it and not hold against them something none of them could help.

Aerin was immensely entertained by some of the tales he told between working as a Clam-digger as a teenager before moving _back_ to Penn and starting the band. Part of her wasn’t surprised he’d been an incorrigible flirt before dropping outta high school as a sophomore, which’d continued for many Years afterward. She also wasn’t surprised to find out that he’d worked as a line cook between teaching himself how to play guitar–and later bass–till he met Bret and Rikki. But the thing that _did_ surprise her was when he admitted that the blondes could often make him feel insecure without even meaning to. He seemed so sure of himself now–especially with the ladies–that it was hard to imagine him as a tall, gangly, insecure teenager. Then again, Ash swore he’d once been the same way, and she still couldn’t see him as that compared to a womanizer or sweet gentleman.

Rob’d simply chuckled and shook his head, swearing that when it came to the ladies of his Youth, he was a lot more shy than he’d been by the _Open Up_ era. That was yet another reason why he’d been such a heavy drinker by the early-to-mid-nineties, though–he needed _something_ to help him relax and just act human. But it’d also cut short quite a few relationships as much as girls simply getting tired of spending everything they had to feed him, ’cuz they’d been expecting him to be loaded from the start. And by the Time he really _was_ loaded compared to barely being able to afford smokes, booze, and hair dye, he was amazed that his ex-wife even gave him a second glance.

“I mean, I was _soooo_ wasted the Night we met on the Strip,” he chuckled.

“Ya don’t say now, love?” Aerin drawled, a smirk playing at her lips as she typed.

“We’d just gotten back from the _Cat Dragged In_ tour,” the Silver Fox recalled. “It was pretty much a nonstop party back then, but we were wanting to celebrate making it through the tour without anyone dying.”

“I can imagine, if it was anything like how Nikki Sixx described Life back then in _The Dirt_ and _The Heroin Diaries,”_ she mused.

“Well, I wasn’t just wasted on booze that Night,” Rob said, sounding sheepish. “I’m actually a recovering addict as much as CC–I’ve just been clean longer.”

The young woman’s jaw dropped as she actually stopped typing from shock. “Ya told me you’d experimented, but didn’t like the way that shit madeja feel.”

“And I didn’t,” he admitted. “But when ya drink as much as I used to–well, even a hyperactive Scorpio like me’s a hard Time getting in gear the next Morn without _some_ kinda stimulant.”

“And apparently, coffee just wasn’t strong enough,” Aerin dead-panned.

Shaking his head, the Silver Fox agreed that coffee just hadn’t been enough to bring him back from some of his hardest Nights of partying. It was for that reason that he’d let CC convince him to try a couple bumps one Morn after the cracker jack of a guitarist’d joined the band in 1985. The resulting high’d made him feel like shit in a completely different way, but at least he’d been able to get outta bed and function.

By the Time he’d met Mishy in 1987, he was not only a full-blown alcoholic, but a full-fledged cocaine addict on top of it. How on Earth he’d managed to sober up for his first wedding and act like he _wasn’t_ having some hellacious withdrawals that Day, he still didn’t know. The only thing he could think of to explain it was that he was a stronger and more stubborn man than he’d ever given himself credit for up to that point. Or maybe it’d been something more along the lines of Divine intervention, ’cuz looking back on it, he swore up and down somebody else’d to have a hand in him _not_ making a fool of himself and ruining his first wedding.

Rob sighed as he moved on to the very Beginning of his first marriage, and how it’d been harder than he’d have ever thought it’d be. He’d always heard that the first Year was the hardest, no matter what, but he was convinced to this Day that his career’d already been tearing it apart, even then. After all, he hadn’t been married very long and had barely settled into living in Florida once again when he was more or less forced to get back into the studio.

“Fuck only knows I wasn’t expecting the one Time I just ditched the band while we were working on _Flesh and Blood_ to result in a _Mini Me,”_ the Silver Fox chuckled.

“Literally, in your case,” Aerin agreed with a laugh.

“And I damn sure wasn’t expecting his mother to wind up two weeks overdue, and that be the only thing that kept me from missing his Birth,” he continued.

The young woman winced, not even wanting to imagine how she’d have felt at two weeks overdue since she’d been carrying twins.

“But once Zach got here–well, I knew I’d no choiceta but to start getting my act together,” Rob said. “I wasn’t about to put him through what I went through as a kid, especially not ’cuz of even an accidental overdose.”

“Which’s something I can commend,” she told him with a smile.

“Getting off the blow was pretty easy–I’ve already said that I never liked how it made me feel to Begin with,” the Silver Fox continued. “I mean, the withdrawals and fighting off the Temptation after that was hell, especially with the others still using, but I managed to on my own.”

Aerin nodded, her fingers still flying and keys still clacking as she typed, only occasionally glancing down.

“It was getting off the booze that damn near killed me–literally,” he said. “The first few Times I tried, I’d get so sick that I couldn’t take it, and I’d fall right back off the wagon.”

“Delirium tremens, love,” the young woman supplied. “Or DTs, as a lotta folks call it.”

“I don’t particularly care _what_ the terminology is,” Rob laughed. “I just know it made me sick as a Dog, and I couldn’t stop shaking like I was cold, no matter how hot it got outside.”

“Definitely had a case of DTs going on,” she mused.

Shrugging, the Silver Fox continued with how waking up in the hospital, the doctor overseeing his care telling him that he’d been brought in due to a seizure was what’d finally convinced him to check himself into rehab. Zach’d been a tender four Years old at the Time and nearly left fatherless due to his own stupid choices. As if that hadn’t been enough, the poor boy’d damn near been scared to Death since he’d been the one to find him, still in the throes of that seizure.

Aerin was quick to finish typing up that part and hit _Save,_ then move to grab him in a tight hug that he was grateful for. Reliving his old horror at having to imagine his older son being sent to wake him up from the nap he’d wanted since he hadn’t been feeling good, only to find him convulsing on the floor and foaming at the mouth wasn’t easy. It was something he’d never Wish on any of his best friends or even his worst enemy, so to imagine his child being forced into that position was always Emotional for him. Even if he didn’t regret anything else about his Life, that was the one thing he most certainly _did_ regret, no questions asked.

Rob still hadn’t quite Calmed down again when the son in question let himself in, the Purdys hot on his heels since they’d decided to set up for the joint birthday party a Day early. Naturally, the newcomers were startled and concerned when they realized he was actually crying, and that his soft sobs were only muffled as much as they were by his wife’s flesh.

“What the–Aerin, why’s Dad crying?” the youngest man queried.

“Just read it,” she answered, pointing at her laptop. “The last couple paragraphs in particular.”

Nodding, Zach settled to do just that. “Damn, I don’t even remember this,” he said once he’d finished.

“I’ll never forget it,” the Silver Fox said, now Calmer as he took the tissue Aidan handed him. “Thanks.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Aidan told him. “I think we’re more concerned with ya being all right.”

“I will be eventually,” Rob assured her after blowing his nose. “It’s just hard to remember being told that Zach was the one to find me in the middle of a seizure when he was four ’cuz of my drinking.”

His younger equivalent winced at the mere Thought of putting Ember–or worse yet, his unborn son–through _that_ living hell.

“If it’s this hard to think about, then why are ya?” the ginger queried, a curious look on her face.

“Been thinking about writing a memoir of my own lately,” he answered. “But _I_ wasn’t even sure what all I actually remembered.”

“And he sucks at typing, so I’ve been doing that part for him,” Aerin added.

“Let’s just say she’s finding out all sortsa shit about me that she’s never known,” the Silver Fox chuckled. “Like how I was a cocaine addict till Zach was born, and having a _Mini Me_ made me wanna get clean and get my act together.”

Said now-grown son didn’t bother trying to hide the Pride in the smile that he shot him.

“It’s just hard to think back on, to imagine how terrified he’d to’ve been at finding Daddy on the floor of his bedroom, unresponsive, twitching, and foaming at the mouth like a rabid Animal,” Rob said. “And knowing I damn well coulda died and left him fatherless doesn’t make it any easier.”

His wife didn’t say a word as she hugged him again, but he knew she was thinking about how it wasn’t much different than what their own fathers’d done to them. After all, he’d have left his young son and partially at his own choice, but there was one major difference that couldn’t be overlooked. Their fathers coulda Changed their minds and come back to them at any Time–there was no coming back from Death.

Once he was settled down again, he didn’t bother trying to fight when Aerin said it was prolly better they put the brakes on this particular project for now. Talking about it with her so she could type it up for him might be cathartic, but she didn’t want any misery infecting the toddlers’ birthday. Not only was it supposed to be a happy Day in celebration of them surviving two Years outside the womb, but it could be seen as a celebration of their respective daddy’s Life, too. Gods knew that without said daddies, they wouldn’t be here, nor the people that they were now as much as if they’d lacked either of their mommies.

Ash and Aidan couldn’t help sharing a look with each other as they all headed for the living room and kitchen moments later. Much like their mutual best friend, they’d known about Rob’s public side and various things that went along with it and his career. But they wouldn’t deny that they were excited to learn more about the man he was once the Lights went down and the Music Ended, so to speak. Not only that, but his sitting down to do this–even if it didn’t get published–was actually more than a lil Inspiring to the younger bassist.


	72. Seventy-One

Work continued on what was very likely to become Rob’s memoir once they’d celebrated Ember’s and the twins’ second birthday on June second. Even he’d decided that he needed a couple more Days after then to get himself psyched up, ’cuz after checking into rehab came what he considered some of the hardest parts of his Life. Not only that, but his wife’s arms, wrists, and hands were so sore from all the typing that she couldn’t even pick up an unopened gallon of milk without a whimper and a moan. In fact, she decided that she was bracing up before they got started again to give her joints some extra and much-needed support.

But he was more than okay with taking a couple Days off to psyche himself up and let Aerin recover a bit so they could continue. In addition to that, it gave him Time to make up his mind about even trying to contact his ex-wife about his lil impromptu project. He damn well _could_ publish just about anything he wanted to–it was _his_ memoir, after all–but he’d more Respect for his ex than that, even though he shouldn’t have.

Naturally, Mishy was surprised to hear the Silver Fox’s voice when he finally made up his mind and got her number from their son. They hadn’t spoken to one another since that final Day in court when their divorce’d officially been declared finalized. Hearing from him outta the blue almost twenty-five Years later prolly woulda surprised just about any woman, if they’d been his ex-wife. All he could hope for was that she’d hear him out rather than hang up on him once he told her who it was and she’d processed that much.

_“So, what on Earth madeja call me after all this Time?”_ she queried, a curious note to her voice. _“’Cuz getting back together’s outta the question since I remarried a long Time ago.”_

“No, nothing like that, Mishy,” Rob assured her with a laugh. “Got remarried a few Years ago, myself.”

_“And here, the kids’ve always told me thatcha swore you’d never remarry,”_ his ex-wife mused.

“’Cuz I did for the longest Time,” he admitted. “And even though my wife’s between those two in age–well, she’s like no other woman I’ve ever met.”

Mishy could practically hear the smile on his face, not to mention the Love in his voice, and it took her back more than a few Years.

“Aerin’s like my other half that I never knew was missing till I found her,” the Silver Fox said. “She’s taught me so much that I thought I already knew, and we’ve been together four Years, as of today.”

_“Sounds like you’re happy with her, and I’m genuinely glad,”_ she told him.

“I’d be lying, if I said I wasn’t, and I damn sure wouldn’t have married her, age difference be damned,” Rob laughed. “Hell, I say it’s ’cuz of her and her helping me come to terms with certain shit why I’m the man I am today.”

_“Somehow, I get the feeling I shouldn’t ask,”_ his ex-wife dead-panned.

“Yeah, we’d wind up getting sidetracked from why I called,” he agreed. “And no offense, butcha lost the right to ask about that kinda shit a long Time ago, just like _I_ lost the right to ask about shit like _your_ second marriage.”

Mishy wasn’t offended by what he said in the least, if only ’cuz he’d decided to play fair and apply the same mentality to himself. Laughing, he admitted that that was another of his wife’s lil Influences over him–whether he was curious or not, he knew he’d wind up sleeping on the couch, if he crossed such a line. Since he got along with couches even less than right after they divorced, he wasn’t opening _that_ can of worms, so to speak.

Taking a deep breath, the Silver Fox got their conversation back on track by bringing her up to speed so she’d know what he was up to. Naturally, she was already well aware that he’d decided to retire from Poison the Autumn previous after their last tour nearly went sideways. She even admitted that she’d been curious about the Health problems he’d been so close-lipped on during his final, announcement interview. If it was something he coulda passed on to their kids, she was gonna be worried, but she hadn’t been able to bring herself to ask either of said kids or to get his number from one of them.

Chuckling, Rob assured her that it wasn’t anything genetic that coulda been passed on, that if it happened to _any_ of his kids, it’d be a freak occurrence like it’d been with him. However, after seeing what he’d gone through, he doubted his older kids’d make the same mistakes he’d made that’d lead to that. And with his wife and both older siblingsta watch out for and remind them, he highly doubted his younger kids’d be allowed to make those mistakes, even after he was dead and gone.

“You’ll find out, if I actually publish the project I’ve been working on that made me call ya in the first place,” he told her.

_“And what project’d that be?”_ Mishy queried, that curious note back in her voice.

“Call it herd mentality, but I was thinking about writing my own memoir,” the Silver Fox answered.

_“You–writing a memoir?”_ His ex-wife sounded surprised, and he wasn’t surprised by that. _“As much as you’ve always valued your privacy, I find that hard to believe.”_

“Hence why I’m still not entirely sold on it,” Rob admitted. “But if I do, I figured it couldn’t hurt to find out whether I should mention ya in passing, act like ya don’t exist, or just go full-tilt and bare all.”

There was just a long enough pause that he’d have thought she’d hung up on him, if he hadn’t still heard her breathing.

“I mean, I’ll no doubt tell Aerin what happened, just so she’ll know exactly why I was so adamant about _not_ remarrying for so long,” he said. “But that can be edited outta whatever gets published, if I decide to do it instead of making her and the kids wait till after I’m dead and gone.”

_“I’ll admit that there’s a part of me that doesn’t even wanna be mentioned,”_ Mishy sighed. _“But then again, I was an integral part of your Life for a long Time.”_

“Might as well just go ahead and shoot the pink Elephant in the room and say ya don’t really want me talking about what made me file for divorce, either,” the Silver Fox dead-panned.

_“Well, not really, if only ’cuz I’d like to think that’s behind both of us,”_ she admitted. _“I’ve never tried to hide what I did from my husband, so it’s not like it’d be a widow-maker or anything.”_

“I can assure ya that I put it behind me already, even if it didn’t happen till I met my wife,” Rob agreed.

Before she could respond to that, they were interrupted by two lil voices saying _Daddy?_ in unison, which made him glance over to the office door that opened into the foyer. Sure enough, he saw the twins standing there, both of them hugging their favorite teddy bears as they gave him the _big puppy-Dog_ eyes. He couldn’t help a chuckle as he gestured for them to c’mon over to him, which made their lil faces positively light up as they grinned and did just that.

“Who chu talking to, Daddy?” Zep asked, his lil head cocked as he pulled them up into his lap.

“Chu bubba and sissy’s mama, Miss Mishy,” he answered with a chuckle. “Her name’s actually Michelle, but she’d prolly find a way to reach through teh phone and bonk me a good one, if I call her that again.”

_“Got that right, Bobby,”_ his ex-wife agreed. _“’Cuz I still hate my name, even now.”_

“Daddy name _nuuuu_ Bobby!” his younger son interjected.

“Yeah, ish _Daddy!”_ Zeph agreed.

“Chu lil boogers,” the Silver Fox laughed. “My name’s really Robert, and _Bobby’s_ a nickname for dat just likey _Rob_ ish.”

_“They sound like some pretty Spirited kids,”_ Mishy chuckled as his wife apparently followed their voicesta find her missing babies.

“Considering who their parents are, ya don’t even know the half of it, Mishy,” he said.

“I resemble that remark, _l’amore,”_ his wife chuckled. “Chu two c’mon wiff _Mammina_ so _Paparino_ can finish him phone call.”

Bidding their goodbyesta the woman they decided to call _Bubba and Sisseh Mama,_ the twins didn’t bother trying fight her. Instead, they simply slid outta his lap and ran off with slightly mischievous giggles, which prompted Aerin to laugh softly. As she turned to follow them, she said they’d only interrupted him ’cuz they were getting antsy for _bedtime Daddy snuddles_. They were gonna have to get them earlier than normal or do without since the couple were going out to celebrate what they considered the first of their dual anniversaries.

Nodding, Rob said that he hadn’t been far from wrapping up when the twins’d interrupted, so he’d be there in a couple minutes. He knew his ex-wife was still listening, no doubt wondering if they were being serious about him being the twins’ father, or if they were her kids from a previous relationship. She was no doubt literally biting her tongue on asking while the young woman was still in earshot, if he’d ever known her at all.

After Aerin’d headed back to the living room, the Silver Fox turned his attention to wrapping up his phone call like he’d said he was gonna do. He wasn’t surprised when Mishy said she didn’t care about him going into detail about their Life together, as long as he used a different name any more than he was surprised that she finally asked what was on her mind. She’d always been every bit the outspoken woman that his current wife was, so he’d have been surprised, if she _hadn’t_ asked. But there really wasn’t much to tell other than Zep and Zeph were lovable accidents just like their older siblings were, just for a slightly different reason. He didn’t feel that Mishy needed to know the fine details unless he published his memoir since they were long since split.

Luckily, she didn’t try to argue the point with him, which allowed him to keep his word on Ending their phone call. If it weren’t for having what he considered far too much Respect for the woman who’d once cheated on him with his best friend, he’d never’ve bothered calling her in the first place. Other than finding out whether he should even mention her or not, Rob’d absolutely nothing left to say to his ex-wife. That ship’d sailed a long fuckin’ Time ago, and he was more than content to keep his feet right where they were on solid, dry Land, metaphorically speaking.

Besides, if he let his ex get into his head too much, he knew it’d ruin his Night out with his current wife, and he wasn’t about to let that happen.

Following the celebration of four Years as a couple, not just in marriage of any kind, the Dalls got back to work on sorting through Rob’s decades-old memories. The last thing they’d really worked on was when he’d gone into Zach being the one to find him in the throes of that seizure, then being told about it upon waking up in the hospital. He hadn’t really gotten into the aftermath of that experience, in terms of checking himself into rehab and the band turmoil him doing so’d only added to.

The Silver Fox couldn’t help a shiver as he recalled how he felt like he couldn’t get warm and stop shivering to save his Life, even though he was in South Florida. He’d the same surprising amount of Clarity as he recalled whatever drug they’d given him to help with that actually causing some kinda allergic reaction, rather than being beneficial to him. Next was how he’d simply felt outta place, especially once other patients who doubled as fans started recognizing him, and how he’d desperately missed his wife and son. In fact, his mental state’d been so bad at first that he’d actually been put on suicide watch for barricading the door to his room so that not even the staff could get in.

“Yeah, that _definitely_ wasn’t fun,” he said with another shiver. “They wouldn’t even gimme crayons and a coloring book to entertain myself with for a month after that.”

“Which pretty much means something like a guitar woulda been totally outta the question,” his wife mused.

“They even cut my nails down to the quick so I couldn’t even scratch an itchy spot, they were so scared I’d find a way to do myself in!” Rob laughed.

“And yet, they never stopped to think that having patients who were also fans constantly in your face wasn’t helping, did they?” she queried.

“Not till I finally stood right in the middle of the common area and threatened to commit murder instead of suicide,” the Silver Fox answered, shaking his head. “I’d to tell them that in there, I _wasn’t_ Bobby Dall the rock star–I was just a man, husband, and father who wanted to get better and go back home to his family, and fending them off wasn’t helping me achieve that goal.”

Aerin rolled her eyes as she continued typing, fans like that being the onesta make her sick.

“I bounced in and outta rehab all throughout 1995,” he continued. “What they were trying to teach me in there just didn’t seem to wanna stick till the earliest months of 1996.”

“But clearly, it finally stuck,” the young woman chuckled.

Nodding, Rob agreed that by April of 1996, he’d managed to make it three months without so much as a weak beer. At that point, he considered himself officially sober, ’cuz he hadn’t even touched alcohol aside from dumping it out on New Year’s Eve of 1995. He considered rediscovering his Love of cooking–which’d led to the opening of his restaurant–to be a key factor in maintaining his sobriety for nearly three decades.

Finding out that Zoe was in the making at about the same Time he’d opened his restaurant was another big reason why he’d been able to maintain his sobriety. He not only had he’ve his son to worry about and provide for, but another baby that was gonna need him just as much. Making sure the restaurant succeeded was a must, ’cuz he’d honestly thought about quitting Poison way back then, especially when _Crack a Smile_ got shelved till 2000. He needed a way to make money to support his family since royalty payments weren’t gonna last forever, whether he quit his band or not.

But at the same Time that he’d been worrying about all those things, the Silver Fox’d even more things on his mind. There’d been a part of him that’d already been suspicious of his ex-wife and her Fidelity, but he hadn’t confronted her about it. Even Silently wondering if the baby she’d been carrying at the Time was really his or not could get him to confront her. He didn’t have the slightest bit of proof that she’d been cheating on him, and the DNA test he’d quietly had run after her Birth proved Zoe to be his.

“I damn sure couldn’t deny it after she was tested against both my siblings and proved to share just enough DNA with than that a niece should share with her aunt and uncle,” Rob said.

“But that still didn’t stop your suspicion?” the young woman queried.

“Nope, and I was right to be suspicious,” he answered.

Aerin nodded to show she was still listening as she continued typing.

“It wasn’t till the Summer of ’01, when Zach was ten and Zoe was three, that my suspicions were proven true,” the Silver Fox said, unable to help the bitterness in his voice.

“Deep breath, _l’amore,_ and just walk me through it,” she told him Soothingly.

“Poison kicked off our _Glam, Slam, Metal Jam_ tour in El Paso, Texas alongside Warrant, Quiet Riot, and Enuff Z’Nuff in late-May of that Year,” Rob recalled. “By that point, I’d been living in pain due to those herniated discs–which also contributed to my drinking–for over a decade.”

“Doesn’t sound like it woulda been fun,” the young woman mused.

“Far from it, sweetheart,” he chuckled dryly. “It was all I could do to function normally at home–on the road was even worse.”

“I can imagine,” Aerin said.

The Silver Fox couldn’t resist reaching up to rub the back of his neck as he recalled how it’d seemed like his pain was only getting worse before that tour even kicked off. But being such a stubborn and stoic bastard, he hadn’t wanted to admit it, which’d only added to everything else already weighing heavily on his mind. Music was pretty much the only thing that gave him any kinda release at that point, and he didn’t know what he’d have done without it.

From what he could recall, considering how Chaotic even his wife knew Life on the road to be, everything finally came to a head starting one Day in late-July of 2001. He couldn’t remember exactly what Day or where he was performing for the Life of him, but he _could_ remember that he’d woken up in pain like every other Day. Considering that he was used to that part, he didn’t think much of it as he’d gotten ready for Sound check.

It was during the show later that afternoon or Eve that everything’d suddenly turned into a shit-show that nobody saw coming. As had been pretty typical of him for well over a decade, he’d climbed up on Rikki’s riser at some point in the show while he was playing. Everybody was used to him doing that and plenty of other insane shit–like managing to go out and mingle amongst the crowd without getting mauled on some of their earliest tours. They were also used to him jumping back down and taking off across the stage to either join a band mate at their mic or touch hands with the crowd like a Bat outta Hell.

“I went up on the riser like I usually did, then I jumped from about eight feet down to the stage,” Rob recalled. “When I hit the stage, that disc popped and broke–what was left of it, anywhore–and the two vertebrae laid down on the nerves together.”

The young woman couldn’t help a wince, even as she kept typing.

“I was basically in a fetal position and couldn’t come outta it,” he continued. “It wasn’t really my career that I was thinking about at that moment–it was my family and my Life.”

“I seem to recall reading somewhere thatcha coulda been paralyzed, if not killed by that injury,” Aerin said.

“Yeah, I coulda,” the Silver Fox confirmed with a nod. “I’d have most likely been paralyzed from the chest down, but I think we both know that if my spinal cord had been severed just high enough it woulda killed me instead.”

Nodding, she gestured to let him know that he could continue whenever he was ready.

“It was unfortunate that we’d to cancel the last few weeks of that tour, but there wasn’t much we could do,” Rob said. “I was put in the hospital and the surgery’d to be done, like it or not. I knew one Day, I’d have to have a fusion in my upper back-slash-neck, and even though I didn’t want it to happen the way that it did, thank the Gods I’m still here and capable of walking.”

“Small Mercies, right?” the young woman chuckled.

“Considering what I went home to after getting discharged from that Nebraska hospital…” he grumbled as he readjusted himself to get some blood flow back to his numb ass.

Aerin wasn’t surprised by how his ex-wife’d claimed needing to stay home with the kids as her reason for not wanting to Travel across the country to visit him while he was admitted. Naturally, it woulda been hard to manage with a hyperactive young boy and a toddler, both of whom woulda gotten cranky quicker and easier than an adult. Besides, with his prognosis being good enough that it was likely he’d have been discharged in a week or so, Stability for said kids was prolly something that shoulda been focused on more.

Upon arriving back at his South Florida home following said discharge, his sister at his side since she worked as a nurse, Rob couldn’t have been more glad to be home. He was still in quite a bit of pain, and swallowing was certainly painful due to the incision in his throat, but he’d been desperate to see his family again. The only thing he could think of was reassuring them that he was okay and getting even better with every passing Day.

But he’d walked in to hearing Mishy screaming in a way that was totally abnormal for the middle of the afternoon when he wasn’t home. Zach and Zoe failing to run up to greet him and their Aunt Patty was also abnormal, and it’d thrown up red flags in his painkiller-clouded mind. His sister’d tried to stop him, but he wasn’t having it and had started up the stairs toward the master suite, which was where he was sure the screaming was coming from. Even though he’d hoped that he was wrong, that his ex-wife was just getting really noisy with a sex toy he hadn’t been aware of her having, his World had come crashing down on his head all over again when he’d opened his bedroom door.

In the Center of his bed, his ex-wife was pinned under his best friend from outside his band, who was pounding her like he was actually _trying_ to break said bed. Almost instantly, he’d seen at least twenty shades of red and yelled at them, which’d sent his best friend to the floor from how he’d rolled off Mishy so quickly. Rob hadn’t even paid any attention to the man’s raging boner–he’d just snarled to get the fuck out before he did something he’d wind up regretting while he was too doped up to feel it. After all, he’d wanted to pick him up like a sack of Taters and throw him out the window, despite his then-recent spinal surgery.

“Mishy tried begging and pleading with me when I said I was filing for divorce,” the Silver Fox spat. “But I wasn’t having any of that shit, either.”

“I don’t blame ya, love,” Aerin agreed. “Polyamory’s one thing, cheating’s another.”

“Well, she apparently thought I was kidding or something–till she got served the next Day,” he said. “And not only was she served with divorce paperwork, but I got at least temporary full custody of the kids.”

“I’m sure being loaded had a lot to do with that,” the young woman mused.

“Actually, no–the judge decided that I set a better example for them, despite my career and how much it kept me away from home,” Rob corrected her. “That was why that _temporary_ turned into _permanent_ till they both turned eighteen.”

_“Mmm…”_ She simply nodded as she continued typing.

“Patty stayed with us for the first couple months, but it wasn’t pretty,” the Silver Fox said. “Not only was I Healing physically, but I was having to fight off the Temptation to wash all my painkillers down with a bottle of Jack and just say, _Ya win, Life.”_

“Good thing that _didn’t_ happen, or I wouldn’t have you and the twins now,” Aerin chuckled.

Letting out a chuckle of his own, he agreed that things’d certainly be a lot different for a lotta people, if he’d allowed himself to give in to that Temptation. But numbing his pain forever wasn’t worth what he knew he’d put at least Zach and Zoe through, if he’d taken his own Life. Even though he’d been a Changed man who trusted even less easily than he had before then, it was for those two that he’d kept pushing on.

After his divorce was finalized, he’d sworn that he was done with serious relationships, if they’d even the potential to set off wedding Bells. In fact, he’d stayed single without even a one-Night stand till around 2005 or 2006, he was so set on never getting that heavily involved again. But Zach all but brow-beating him into at least trying to date again and his own loneliness’d ensured that he eventually Changed his mind. He’d been wary and made it clear that he’d Trust issues, but the girlfriend he’d wound up with hadn’t seemed to care, claiming that she was patient and willing to prove herself.

That relationship’d lasted for about two Years before she’d decided to End it, ’cuz apparently, he hadn’t been giving her what she’d wanted. It turned out that Love and awesome sex–even a fuck-load of money, for that matter–weren’t enough for her, after all. What she’d really wanted was a husband, and when she’d realized that he was serious about not getting married again, she’d Ended their relationship. From there, his Love Life hadn’t gotten any better till he’d met Aerin–if anything, it’d only gotten worse and worsened his Trust issues.

Kinda like after revealing that his older son’d been the one to find him in the throes of a seizure, the young woman could tell her husband was getting a lil too wound up. Quickly hitting _Save,_ she told him that it was prolly Time they took a break before he lost his temper at his own memories, if only for his own Sanity. Admitting that her hands, wrists, and arms were starting to hurt pretty badly again convinced him that she was right. He clearly didn’t wanna, but he wasn’t willing to accidentally hurt her just so he could get through the last few Years of his Life. She’d already have a fuck-ton to type up when it came to his rectal prolapse, which he actually wanted her to do from her own point of view. After all, she and others around him remembered more about that Day and the first two or three to follow than he did, himself.

Nodding, the young woman assured him that she’d be Honored to do such a thing for him, ’cuz he certainly had a point. She was well aware that all Rob really remembered was blinding agony till he’d been dosed with Fentanyl, which was when everything became more of a blurry blank than not. However, aside from needing to give her upper extremities a break, she needed Time to think about how to word it. Even though she was a talented writer, she’d to decide just how much detail to go into, depending on what he allowed and what she thought the public could handle. He simply chuckled as he pulled her against him, still deciding on just how much of that he wanted revealed and knowing it was definitely better saved for another Day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I wanna put a disclaimer about several things in this chapter being–at least to me–purely fictional. However, here's a link to an interview Bobby actually did back in 2009. Part of his commentsta Aerin in the chapter are just a rephrased answer of his to a question in this interview, and I believe in giving credit where credit's due.  
> ~Firefly
> 
> Link to Bobby's 2009 _They Will Rock You_ Interview–http://theywillrockyou.com/2009/06/bobby-dall-poison/


	73. Seventy-Two

Rob spent the next few months continuing to comb through his memories for anything that he mighta missed. The only thing he wouldn’t elaborate on–even with just his wife–was whether or not he’d actually once shit in a cereal box and mailed it to a Los Angeles newspaper editor. Just ’cuz Poison’s first real manager said he’d done it didn’t necessarily mean that the event in question’d ever happened. He wasn’t denying that he mighta actually done it, but since he and none of the blondes remembered it, he didn’t wanna add it to his memoir.

Aerin totally understood where he was coming from, considering how much she liked working with facts and giving credit where it was due. If something couldn’t necessarily be verified, she couldn’t give the proper credit to the person who actually deserved it. Besides, who knew if that old manager was recalling something he’d actually done, or mixing him up with someone else of a similar description?

Once they’d found out what he’d been up to during his first Year of retirement, the blondes who’d made up three-quarters of his old band had been supportive. Bret’d been the only one of them to do anything similar with his _Auto-Scrapography_ of 2020, and he kinda liked the idea of his former band mate joining the metaphoric party. The fact that he’d always been the most Mysterious of them only added to the blonde front man’s glee at him finally doing what amounted to a confessional. Maybe now, he and the others wouldn’t get asked so many questions about what he was up to behind the scenes that _didn’t_ involve the band.

By the Beginning of 2025, the Silver Fox’s memoir was done–even fully edited, courtesy of Ash and Aidan–and could be published. He’d waffled on whether or not to actually publish it, even though Mishy’d been dubbed _Morgan_ for sake of her privacy. Eventually, he’d decided that he actually wanted to go through with such a thing and gotten in touch with Bret’s publisher about it. They’d been surprised to find out that not only did he _wanna_ do such a thing, but already had the finished book on top of it. However, it hadn’t taken very much convincing to get them to read through a printout of the draft, which they’d pretty much loved from the moment they read his chosen title– _Roses and Thorns: the Life of the Voodoo Dall_. In fact, they’d even suggested his wife write a similar book about her own Life as a companion pieceta his, they liked it so much.

The only thing anyone at the publishing company’d tried to get him to Change was the handful of chapters that covered his rectal prolapse and its aftermath. Even the Editor-in-Chief tried to say that those chapters–especially the one Aerin’d written from her own perspective–were just too graphic. Like the stubborn man he was, though, Rob’d taken his draft back from the man with the straightest of faces he’d ever worn. Graphic or not, he wasn’t allowing the book to be published without those chapters included since he was trying to be honest and open about _everything._ If they weren’t included so the End of his career made sense, he’d either sit on the draft till he died, or he’d publish it himself on his own dime.

It hadn’t taken long to Change the Editor-in-Chief’s mind, ’cuz as Aerin swore her pappaw’d always said, money talked and bullshit walked. The man knew that passing on something like this could make or break his publishing company, considering how curious the World was about the great Bobby Dall. Having Changed his mind and gotten the book into print, they’d only to pick a release date–which wound up being Valentine’s Day.

“Ready for your big premiere as an author?”

Looking up from where he’d been going over a few notes, Rob couldn’t help the grin that split his face when he saw his wife. “As I’ll ever be, I guess, sweetheart.”

“Hey, think of this kinda like any of the thousands of shows ya did over the Years,” the young woman said, apparently sensing his Anxiety. “It’s only gonna go as badly as ya make it.”

“’Cuz Thoughts’re still Energy, I know.” He nodded as he reached up to clutch the Pentacle he’d finally taken to wearing, which he made sure was tucked into his shirt once he let it go.

“Atta Witch, love,” Aerin chuckled, leaning down to give him a kiss.

The Silver Fox couldn’t help a soft hum and sigh as their lips met, her hands gently framing his face.

“We’re out in five, Mr. Dall!” someone yelled from the hall.

“Guess that’s our cue, sweetheart,” Rob sighed after gently breaking their kiss.

“Then let’s grab what we need and get going,” she told him. “I’ma be right there besideja, and our Goddess is always with us.”

“What would I do withoutcha?” the Silver Fox asked with a chuckle. “Ya always know just what to say to Calm me down, or even cheer or rile me up.”

Laughing, Aerin wrapped an arm around his waist as they grabbed their personal effects and headed out to where they’d wait another couple minutes. After all, he hadn’t chosen to simply release his book and sit back to collect the proceeds from any sales it made. He’d decided that he’d do a lone signing at the Barnes and Noble closest to his home, which was just up the road in Knoxville.

They could already hear the excited murmurs of the crowd from where they met up with his old manager, Bert, and this bookstore’s manager. Knowing those murmurs were gonna morph into shrieks and screams, Rob reached up to shove a pair of ear plugs into his ears. Playing loud concerts for decades mighta damaged his hearing, but he still wasn’t completely deaf, and he wasn’t looking to incur a migraine. From the looks of things, neither was his wife, who reached up to shove in her own ear plugs before nodding to the store manager so she’d know they were ready.

At exactly the stroke of nine AM, the couple were given their cue so they could head out to the table that’d been set up for them. Just like he’d suspected, the excited murmurs they’d heard previously turned into shrieks and screams when fans of all ages and both genders spotted the Silver Fox. Considering the sudden amount of noise combined with all the different pitches till the crowd settled down, they were definitely glad to’ve remembered their ear plugs before leaving home.

Over the next four hours, both signed so many pre-ordered copies of his book that their hands were seriously cramping. By the Time the actual signing was called to an End so he could address what remained of the crowd–which was actually quite a bit–Rob actually had to pound his wife’s hand flat for her. She simply couldn’t get her fingersta completely straighten on her own, even though that action’d sparked some momentary outrage in those who witnessed it. Luckily, she’d been able to convince the crowd _not_ to call the cops on him for assault or abuse, citing a waste of Time and manpower. After all, her medical records’d prove that he hadn’t hit her with any ill Intent, even though she hadn’t verbally asked him to.

“Good afternoon, everybody,” the Silver Fox said, now standing behind the podium that’d been set up for them. “I just wanna say thank y’all for coming today.”

Somebody called out something, and he couldn’t help a laugh as he managed to make out the words.

“Yeah, ya just heard _y’all_ come outta this Beach bum’s mouth,” Rob responded with a grin. “It kinda happens sometimes when ya marry a country girl and move to the Hills.”

His wife grinned somewhat mischievously next to him, making the crowd laugh.

“I know everyone’s curious about what made me do this,” he continued once they’d settled down. “I guess ya could say that the reminiscing of a close friend and thinking about how I’m getting older was–well, let’s go with _Inspiring_ here.”

“Which close friend–Bret?” one of the women closest to him queried.

“No, not Bret,” the Silver Fox answered. “I actually wasn’t even thinking of him and his _Auto-Scrapograhpy_ he did a few Years ago when I started working on this.”

Now the crowd really seemed curious.

“Many dunno it, but I actually got the pleasure of meeting former Black Veil Brides bassist, Ashley Purdy, in the Summer of 2020,” Rob said. “In fact, he’s the one responsible for introducing me to my wife.”

“It’s true,” the young woman chuckled. “I met and befriended Ash purely by chance. After the _Godzilla Flu shutdown,_ he, his now-wife, and I needed to get outta the house, and the room he wound up renting was Rob’s guest room.”

“One thing led to another, and before I knew it, I just couldn’t live without my Rebel,” he said. “But that led to friends in unexpected places who’ve helped me as much as I’ve at least tried to help them.”

“When Ash started working on his album that includes the cover he did of Poison’s _Ride Child Ride,_ it made more than just him do some reminiscing,” Aerin explained.

“Honestly, I wasn’t sure about publishing this book,” the Silver Fox admitted. “Hell, I waffled on the idea for months after Rebel finished helping me by doing all the typing since I suck at that part.”

The crowd erupted into more laughter at his admission, no doubt in part due to the sheepish tone in his voice and how his face turned pink. Once they’d settled down once again, Rob continued with his explanation on why he’d decided to go through with the publication of his book. While the songs he’d helped write and all the interviews he’d given over the Years told stories of their own, nothing told _his_ story quite like this book. It’d take a month-long interview to cover everything revealed within the pages of this book, and he just wasn’t willing to or capable of sitting still for that long.

Applause erupted as soon as he closed his mouth, which pretty much concluded the one and only signing he Intended to do. The last thing he said before walking away was that if it didn’t go into trust funds for the twins, the proceeds were going into a charity he was setting up. He couldn’t think of a better use for the money since he neither wanted, nor needed it for himself or his wife.

Waving to the small crowd, he and Aerin soon turned to head out to her truck so they could head back to their home. After all, they’d left Zep and Zeph with Andy and their older siblings, so they needed to get back before the Fire department’d to be called. Not only that, but they were both ready to get outta the dressy clothes they’d donned specifically for the signing. They both preferred their more relaxed styles, and they just wanted to spend Time with their family and closest friends.

Just a mere week after its release, Rob’s book was already added to the _New York Times Bestseller_ list, which’d honestly come as a surpriseta him. He’d known that a lotta folks were bound to be interested, now that he was breaking his decades-long Silence on his private Life, but he hadn’t expected them to be quite _this_ interested. But all the interest and sales that far surpassed even those of Nikki Sixx’s and Duff McKagan’s collective books prompted an actual interview, which he hoped would be his last ever.

In the green room of the studio that Rachel Ray’s show was still filmed in, the Silver Fox was gearing himself up as much as he could. The one thing he’d more or less demanded was that Rachel not even bother with a list of questions for today’s interview. He just wanted her to shoot straight from the hip, so to speak, ’cuz he preferred doing things as closeta unscripted as possible.

“Help me give a warm welcome to Poison’s Bobby Dall and his family!”

Taking his cue, he headed out onto the stage with Zep and Zeph giggling up a Storm on his back from the piggy-back ride he was giving them. Even Aerin, Zach, and Zoe weren’t immune to laughter as they followed in their wake, knowing this was pretty typical of them. Pausing to let his older kids take their siblings so he could straighten fully was also pretty typical, and something their hostess was more than willing to wait out. By the Time she and the entire family were settled, the crowd quiet so questions and responses could actually be heard, his Anxiety’d actually started to wear off a bit.

“Gotta say, it’s a pleasure to have ya here today, Bobby,” Rachel said by way of opening the interview.

“Rob, please,” he corrected her with a chuckle. “That’s always been a pet-peeve of mine, if the entire band wasn’t involved, and my stage name’s also a trigger for my wife.”

The entirety of the studio audience and the crew gasped as her eyes widened.

“My apologiesta both of ya,” she said, prompting them to wave off her words. “So, the reason I wanted to do this is ’cuz of a couple topics mentioned in your new book, _Roses and Thorns.”_

“Ten guesses and the first nine don’t count as to what those topics are,” Aerin laughed where she sat next to him.

“Well, this _is_ a cooking show, so I kinda _gotta_ ask about the food-related parts!” their hostess retorted good-Naturedly.

“The answer’s yes, I’ve loved cooking since I was pretty young,” Rob chuckled. “It was something my mom and I used to do when I was a kid, and now that she’s no longer with us, it kinda takes me back to then.”

“Definitely not a bad reason to get and stay into cooking,” Rachel agreed. “But now, I see there’s more to it.”

“Yeah, there is, although I’m not getting into it on-camera,” the Silver Fox said.

“From what I read in your book, I think that’s prolly best,” she chuckled. “Whether gussied-up or not, your wife’s account’s pretty graphic.”

“We did that on purpose, but yeah,” the young woman agreed. “Definitely not family TV-friendly.”

“Even if I hadn’t already had a Love of cooking, I no doubt would now,” he said.

“No doubt you’ve had to completely revamp your diet due to that medical problem,” Rachel mused.

“Mostly with cutting out the caffeine and adding more Water,” the Silver Fox admitted. “But more fiber never hurt anybody, either.”

Laughing, she couldn’t help but agree with his assessment before calling for their first commercial break since his and his family’s introduction. She said they’d go at least a lil more in-depth upon their Return, but definitely not by _too_ much since they’d already admitted the full story wasn’t family TV-friendly. Once they’d gotten the signal from her director, they all decided to take a quick potty break before settling so it looked like they hadn’t even moved.

“So, as we were saying before the break, you’d to revamp your diet due to medical problems, right?” their hostess queried after their break.

“Indeed, I did,” Rob answered, nodding. “Well, I didn’t _have_ to, even though my doctor highly recommended it–I coulda been the stubborn old man my family knows I am at heart.”

Not even said family could help laughing at that admission.

“But I choseta actually do what my doctor said, ’cuz I really don’t relish having a repeat,” he continued once everybody’d settled down.

“I wouldn’t either, based on what I read,” Rachel admitted. “I’d rather be around to do something like write this book.”

“And if a dietary Change achieves that, I’m all for it,” the Silver Fox agreed.

“I’m sure you’ve other Loves besides cooking and Music that _aren’t_ mentioned in your book, though,” she mused.

“Well, there's–” Rob started, laughing when his wife grinned and covered his mouth.

“Uh, uh, uh, love–no need to scar Zach and Zoe, nor give the rest of America any ideas,” she laughed.

“In all seriousness, I pretty much just enjoy getting to spend more Time with my family–which includes experimenting in the kitchen,” the Silver Fox said once she removed her hand. “I mean, ya can’t eat the same thing all the Time before it gets old, and I want my kidsta have the same kinda memories with me that I still have with Mama.”

“Never a bad thing, especially for the lil cuties,” Rachel agreed, grinning at the twins.

Zep and Zeph both giggled, shyly peeping out from hiding their faces against his sides.

“It’s always been my own stubborn, determined personality that drove me,” Rob told her. “But my family’s why I do what I do now, and did a lotta the things I did back in the Day.”

Since they were pretty much outta Time, Rachel gave his book one last on-Air pimping, saying there were actually several good recipes included for those who were into cooking. Moments later as they smiled and waved for the camera, her director was giving them the same signal as before. That meant the cameras weren’t rolling for the moment, and they could pretty much do and say whatever they felt like without getting censored.

Even as he hefted the twins up to snuggle against his chest, Rob wasn’t surprised that their hostess wanted to congratulate him on his book and its amazing Success already. She knew that it’d taken a lotta Strength on his part to sit down and write it, with or without help, considering some of the topics covered in it. But even she wouldn’t have guessed that the public’d be so curious about him and his Life that it’d wind up a _Bestseller_ in a week or less. If anything besides his writing and publishing it surprised her, she’d gladly admit that it was its level of Success so soon outta the gate.

Unable to help his face turning pink slightly, the Silver Fox said that he couldn’t have done it without his wife–and he didn’t mean ’cuz she’d done all the typing. If it weren’t for Aerin, he wouldn’t have been able to find, much less maintain the Strength it took to talk about his childhood and adolescence. The fact that she’d gone through many of the same things and knew how he felt was why he’d been able to talk about that part of his Life, let alone publish it for the World to read.

Now that the interview was wrapped up, they decided that it was high Time they headed back to their hotel for the Time being. All of them were eager to get back home to Tenn, the young woman being the most so since she was a country girl at heart and hated big Cities. However, it was also edging on the twins’ naptime, so they didn’t want them getting cranky before what lil exploring they were gonna do before heading home. Said twins sleepily bid their goodbyes before burying their faces against him, prompting their parents and older siblingsta laugh as they headed off to get unwired. Overall, it certainly hadn’t been a bad final interview, but Rob couldn’t deny that he was glad it was just that any more than he could deny his Love for his family.


	74. Seventy-Three

Upon Returning from their trip to New York, the first thing the Dalls did was assure themselves that their house was safe for them to enter. Andy’d been left there by himself since–although he was officially in a relationship with Zoe now, they hadn’t admitted it publicly–so things’d been pretty quiet for him. In addition to that, Ash’d been coming over to help him with something that few knew about this particular family, which was taking care of the Horses housed in the stables out back. Two of said Horses belonged to the older bassist and his wife, the other two actually belonging to their friends since the other couple didn’t have anywhere to house them on their own property.

Once assured that they weren’t gonna get attacked by a burglar laying in wait, Rob and Aerin’d started unpacking everyone’s suitcases. While his older daughter was capable of taking care of her own belongings, the twins still needed help due to their young age. After that, they’d to unpack their own belongings, and by the Time they’d done that, they were all in need of a nap due to getting up early to make their flight home.

Zep and Zeph pouted adorably from their daddy’s lap once he was settled in his recliner, which made the Silver Fox chuckle as he snuggled them. He knew as well as their mama did what they were wanting, but he also knew what kinda mood his wife was in, judging by the teasing glint in her eyes. She was gonna make them veritably beg for what they wanted before she actually gave in, ’cuz that was just one of the ways she liked messing with almost everyone around them. But it was always cute when she did that, ’cuz the twins weren’t old enough to realize what she was doing, which only made them pout even more.

Letting out some of the cutest whines either couple’d ever heard, both toddlers turned on the _big puppy-Dog_ eyes they were guilty of using to get their way more than they weren’t. Even Ember got in on it since she was snuggling in Ash’s lap at the moment, which just ramped up the level of cuteness. Still, his wife eventually gave in, pretending that the Power of the pout was simply too much for her to hold up against, what with it coming from three toddlers at once.

“Chu gosta ask Unca Ashie to go gets Mama’s tar-tars nicely,” Aerin said, barely biting back a snicker.

All three toddlers turned those big, brown eyes up at the younger bassist, who mocked caving to their demands.

“The pouts–they’re too much!” he laughed, pretending to strain before collapsing against the couch.

_“Pweeeeaaase?”_ they begged, bottom lips shoved out as far as they could get them.

“Ember’s gosta lemme up so I can go get those tar-tars,” Ash chuckled.

Said lil girl was all too happy to oblige, even though she was clearly comfy, by sliding outta his lap.

“I’ll be back in a minute, sis,” the younger bassist told her as he pushed himself up.

“Grab the _Martin_ and the _Glory,”_ Aerin called behind him as he made to head down to the basement.

“We talking bass clef or treble for the _Glory?”_ he asked, clearly teasing her.

“I think ya know what I meant, ya jerk!” the young woman laughed. “’Cuz your only other choice’s grabbing both _Glories_ and the _Martin,_ too!”

Even Andy and Zoe couldn’t help a chuckle as he disappeared down the basement stairs, Ember heading over to join her uncle and cousins in his recliner. Considering that his lap was full of sleepy toddler, they doubted that Ash’d Return with more than the first two items that his claimed sister’d requested. Granted, the young front man didn’t know exactly what those items were, but he’d soon find out once his friend and former band mate Returned to the living room.

In his hands upon that Return were two acoustic instruments, but there was a fairly obvious differenceta anyone who was paying attention. One’d a shorter neck and two more strings than the other, whose strings were also a lot thicker than its compatriot’s. There was no denying that one was a guitar, the other a bass, to anyone who was even slightly vocally inclined.

Once he’d handed off the acoustic guitar, Ash reclaimed his seat next to his wife with the acoustic bass he’d brought up from the basement. He made sure not to hit her with the neck or head stock, both so he wouldn’t knock the instrument outta tune and so he wouldn’t accidentally hit their infant son. Aerin settled in the arm chair that was positioned between the Love seat and her husband’s recliner, giving her guitar a quick check once she was seated. Following a quick retuning that her claimed brother followed her lead on, she settled her hands right where she needed them to be and nodded as she counted them in.

_“I got red Dirt stains on mah boots and jeans, calloused fingers from my guitar strings_ – _wild like the Wind in the tall Pine Trees, I got roots…and I got wings,”_ she sang, letting out a drawl the likes of which Andy hadn’t heard outta her before.

Starting a couple seconds after that last note, the younger bassist joined her with the bass riff of whatever song she was playing in addition to backing vocals.

_“I raise my glass on a Saturday Night… I thank the Lord above on my Sunday drive…for Daddy’s hands, and Mama’s Dreams_ – _he gave me roots, she gave me wings,”_ the young woman continued.

Even her stepdaughter figured out what song they were playing and joined in for a backing line as all three toddler’s sighed in the older bassist’s lap.

_“He said run on Love and run on Life, and plant some seeds till you’re tired_ – _don’t take anything at all for granted,”_ the trio sang in unison. _“She said raise your hands and raise your babehs… Be yourself, and never Change it_ – _be everything you ever wanna be…”_

Rob couldn’t help a chuckle as the toddlers in his lap somehow tied themselves into a human pretzel, the trio falling Silent aside from the riffs they were playing. The lead riff was obviously missing as they played in Silence for about thirty seconds, and that was for a couple different reasons. Not only did they not have enough musiciansta cover even that riff at the moment, but it was also done on a Dobro. The only person in their immediate Circle they knew that could play a Dobro was Richie, but he was at his home somewhere in So Cal at the moment. In addition to that, he also generally didn’t play country Music, so he might not’ve been able to cover it, even if he _had_ been here.

_“I saddle up when I get down, sing every Night in a different Town…and I’ve got a man who wears my ring,”_ Aerin sang almost exclusively on her own after they’d repeated the chorus. _“And I got roots, and I got wings, yeah… I got roots, I got wings…”_

The duo that were playing seemed like they were gonna let their last notes ring out before muting their strings, but the older bassist knew better. He’d heard the full-length studio version of this song and knew that instead of muting their strings, they were gonna more or less pick up right where they’d left off. The final two or three minutes of the song was supposed to put the lead riff on prominent display, which obviously wouldn’t be done here. Instead, it’d be used to further lull Zep, Zeph, and Ember to sleep for their nap, the infant having already been snoozing in his mother’s arms. At about the four and a-half minute mark, they’d finally let their final notes ring out before actually muting their strings this Time.

Chuckling under their breath as they set aside the instruments they held, Ash and the young woman roseta help get the kids settled for their nap. Having been moved from their parents’ bedroom into what’d been Zach’s and then later Andy’s bedroom, they didn’t have that far of a trek to get them settled. To be quite honest, getting them settled in the toddler beds the twins’d been put in after a fiasco involving a Goose Egg on a noggin was gonna be harder.

Luckily, all three toddlers barely squirmed and let out soft, content sighs as they were tucked in, the girls on either side of the lone boy. Assured that they were sleeping deeply enough that they wouldn’t wake, the pair headed back to the living room, where they weren’t surprised by the young front man’s Awed look. They didn’t really play together as much as they’d like, and when they did, they were usually playing a rock song. Hearing them do an obvious country song’d definitely surprised him, but he couldn’t deny that they were pretty good at it, all the same.

“What song was that?” he queried as they reclaimed their seats.

_“Roots and Wings_ by Miranda Lambert,” Aerin chuckled.

“It’s pretty much you in a nutshell,” her stepdaughter laughed, careful to keep her voice down to avoid disturbing the napping toddlers and infant.

“Yeah, pretty much,” the young woman agreed, nodding as she settled in her husband’s lap.

“I’ve always been curious about where ya grew up,” Andy admitted, wrapping an arm around his girlfriend’s shoulders. “’Cuz I’ve been able to hear that you’ve a bit of an accent, but not like I just did while ya were singing.”

“Half my family’s actually from this general area,” she told him. “Most were born in Monroe County, but now they’re spread out all over the place.”

“Damn, seriously?” the young front man asked, unable to help a laugh of his own.

“Seriously.” Aerin nodded. “The other half of my family’s from Central North Carolina, which’s where I grew up.”

“Hate to say it, but country folks pretty much all sound the same to me,” he admitted.

“Oh, there’s some serious differences,” the young woman told him. “Tennesseans and Texans alike use harder vowels than some other regions.”

“I thought I noticed that when the word _like_ came up,” Andy mused.

“Folks from this area tend to sound like they’re saying completely different words than what they really are, if ya dunno ’em that well,” she continued. “Think about how I usually say _Fire,_ as in a Fire in the fireplace.”

The young front man cocked a brow, not quite sure what she was getting at.

“It usually comes out sounding more like the word _far,”_ Aerin chuckled. “And _wire_ tendsta sound pretty similar when I say it.”

“Ya know, now that I think about it…” He couldn’t help a snicker.

“And more often than not, it sounds like I’m saying _shire_ when I’m really saying _shower,”_ the young woman said.

“Took me a while to figure out half of what she was saying, especially once she got mad,” Rob chuckled, his arms wrapped around her waist.

Andy couldn’t help another laugh as he admitted that that was pretty bad, ’cuz it almost made it seem like there was a language barrier between them, even though they both spoke English. She was quick to correct him, a grin stretching her face as she said that the language barrier part _really_ came in when she’d to give someone directionsta somewhere. Her poor husband was even more lost than if he lacked a map or GPS due to the way Southerners gave directions, as were her best friends.

Not wanting to confuse him at the moment, Aerin said she’d explain that one at a later date, or just let him hear her do it in real-Time. Quick to nod his agreement since he could tell she was getting tired, he couldn’t help wondering what other songs she could do that _didn’t_ fall under the umbrella of the rock genre. He was absolutely sure there’d to be others, even if she wouldn’t actually play or sing any of them at the moment.

Ever quick to surprise him, the young woman grabbed her guitar again and quickly retuned it for the second Time. She didn’t care whether Ash joined her for this one or not, ’cuz she knew damn good and well her husband wouldn’t. Not ’cuz he’d a lap full of toddlers this Time, or ’cuz he simply didn’t wanna, but ’cuz he wasn’t likely to know this particular song in the slightest. If she were completely honest, she doubted he’d have heard it when it first debuted back when his older daughter was about the twins’ and Ember’s age, which was when it was at its most popular.

Surprisingly enough, though, it seemed that his younger equivalent was still thinking on the same wavelength as his wife. He was quick to grab and retune her bass once again, nodding as he counted them in once he ready to join her. This particular set of riffs was a fuck-ton more upbeat compared to the last song they’d played, but it was still an obvious country song. Even still, they all but stared each other down as they played for about thirteen seconds before either one took a deep breath.

_“You make it seem so easy all the Time_ – _you amaze me with the way you look at Life,”_ they sang, Ash hitting slightly lower notes than his claimed sister.

_“It’s not so bad, it all works out_ – _that's whatcha say when I get down,”_ Aerin sang on her own, somehow managing to look back at her husband. _“Ya turn my World around, yeah… You make it seem so easy…”_

Everybody in the room noticed how her accent wasn’t quite as thick this Time as she turned back toward the younger bassist in the ten seconds or so before the actual verse.

_“Sometimes, Life's overwhelming_ – _don't see an End in sight,”_ they sang in unison. _“You put things in perspective, into a brighter Light, yeah!”_

Following another repetition of the chorus, during when they both looked at their chosen partners, they dove into the second verse with ease.

_“You keep a perfect Balance between the highs and lows_ – _your steps’re sure and solid down any kind of road… And when I’m feelin’ broken, beat-up and all done-in, ya kiss me where it’s hurtin’ and I am whole again!”_

After repeating the first half of the chorus, Aerin surprised them by actually ripping into what was obviously the lead guitarist’s solo. For not quite thirteen seconds, she shredded out the riff in question almost as well as CC, Richie, and Jake all shredded out their solos in their own songs. With a grin on her face as she switched back to the rhythm riff she’d been playing before, she looked back up at her best friend as they both took another deep breath.

The End of the song was the pair repeating the chorus for the final Time before they alternated a few lines between them. Even Rob wasn’t quite sure if they’d done that Intentionally or not, ’cuz he didn’t recall having ever heard this song in his Life. He wouldn’t deny that it was a good one that could easily become one of his new favorites, but it was still just a back-yard cover to him, all the same.

Laughing as they set aside their instruments again, his wife admitted that they _had,_ in fact alternated those Ending lyrics on purpose. The original artists who’d tracked and released this song back in 1997 were a pair of identical twins who sounded almost identical to one another. Both women were cited as having done both lead _and_ backing vocals, so it was hard to tell who was singing either one at any given Time. What one _could_ tell beyond a Shadow of a doubt was that even singing co-lead, one almost always hit lower notes than the other, which they’d captured perfectly in their cover. And that went for this pair’s slower, sappier songs as much as the upbeat ones like the song they’d just played together.

Unable to bite back the yawn that desperately wanted out, Aerin said she’d let the group listen to one of those slower, sappier numbers by this duo later. Even her husband and stepdaughter proved how much they needed a nap when they, too let out yawns they were barely able to muffle. Nodding his agreement, Andy admitted that she might actually get him to listen to something other than hard rock and heavy Metal if she did that, knowing better than to push her at the moment. With that agreement made, they all headed off their separate ways, Ash and Aidan taking their son to the guest room in the basement for the moment.

Sighing as she settled into bed next to her husband, the young woman couldn’t help the smile on her face as she snuggled close. Now that his book was out and he’d taken care of the only interview regarding it that he actually wanted to, maybe she’d get Rob to herself for decadesta come. Then again, that might just be Wishful thinking on her part, considering his fame, but she was of the belief that a woman could always Dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's linksta the two songs that got stuck in my head as I was rereading quite a bit of this story so I could post it on my deviantArt account and Inspired me more than a lil bit. Since I'm running on fumes from not sleeping worth a shit last Night and waking up crying on top of it, I'ma leave this where it's at and hopefully get to work on it again later. Merry late Christmas to those who celebrate it!  
> ~Firefly
> 
> Link to Miranda Lambert's _Roots and Wings_ –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY-0EHJaOmM  
> Link to The Kinleys' _You Make it Seem so Easy_ –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ndBrIFHGKM


	75. Seventy-Four

_June, 2025_

The next few months passed in relative Peace, all things considered, and before they knew it, it was Time to celebrate Ember’s and the twins’ third birthday. But that wasn’t the only thing they were celebrating today, nor the fact that the first birthday of Ash’s and Aidan’s son–whom they’d decided to name Dallas Ashley long before he was actually born–was swiftly approaching, too.

Nobody’d expected Zoe to turn up sick as a Dog a couple months after the family’d Returned from that interview in New York. Certainly, none of them’d expected her to go behind all their backs and make a trip to the local Wal-Mart for something they hadn’t even considered. They damn sure weren’t expecting that quick errand to result in a multitude of Changes, particularly for her and her boyfriend. But finding out that she was pregnant was almost more of a Blessing than finding out that Zep and Zeph were in the making, considering everything said boyfriend had gone through.

Everybody’d cracked up when Andy’s eyes’d rolled up in his head, Ash just barely catching him before he hit his head when he went down like a barrel of bricks. Then again, his shock at getting such news was fairly understandable–after all, he and Juliet’d tried for a child for so many Years without the slightest hint of Success. Finding out he was gonna be a father when he hadn’t exactly been trying–although he apparently hadn’t been making any attempts at _stopping_ such a thing–woulda been shocking for just about anyone.

However, that led Aerin to something she’d all but forgotten about in recent Times, which she now worked on in her free Time. The _Yule_ prior to her departure from North Carolina, her mother’d surprised her with one of those _Ancestry DNA_ kits as her _Yule_ present. All her Life, she’d various questions that she didn’t think’d ever be answered, and she was perfectly okay with never getting those answers. Still, going through with this paricular misadventure mighta gotten her at least a few of those answers, which was why she’d done it. Even if the only answer she got was about where half her blood line actually stemmed from, rather than telling her who might actually be a part of it and how to contact them, she’d be happy enough.

The young woman hadn’t been surprised to find out that a Lifelong claim of her mother’s had actually been true shortly before leaving her home State. Nor had she been surprised to find out that she actually had a bigger family than she’d first imagined, and not ’cuz of the prolific breeding of generations past. But that was pretty much where the good Times Ended, as it were, ’cuz the one suspected–later confirmed–family member she mighta been able to get in touch with’d still been outta her reach. That particular aunt actually _had_ an Ancestry account of her own from where she’d been working on her family Tree, but she hadn’t logged in in a couple Years by the Time she got her test results back. Choosing not too push more buttons than necessary, as was typical of her Pagan ways, she’d decided to just leave it at that and work on her own family Tree when she’d the free Time.

Course, working on that family Tree entailed picking up where she’d left off quite literally Years ago, which entailed adding her husband as a member of it. Not only that, but she wasn’t about to leave out Rob’s older kids–nor _their_ mother, for that matter–since she hadn’t left out her own half-brother and his father. She hadn’t added anyone from generations previousta her former stepfather, but that was beside the point. All she cared about adding were those most immediate to her, which’d include parents, provided that she knew certain details about them, like their names. That meant adding even Andy and _his_ parents, now that he was officially part of her family since Zoe was now closing in on her second trimester and unlikely to miscarry.

Settled at the desk in the office with her laptop, Aerin was focused solely on following the leaf hints that came with Andy’s and his parents’ names once she’d added them. Her own kids were down for their nap and the older bassist’d headed off to get a headstart on lunch, so it was relatively quiet. That was why suddenly hearing a knock at the front door was a bit startling as it broke her outta the hell-bent focus she’d slipped into. Hearing Andy move to answer the door, though, allowed her to somewhat slip back into that trance, although she kept enough of her attention on her surroundingsta know if trouble started or not. But she wasn’t expecting what came next, which caught her attention enough to make her actually look up from what she’d been working on, then rise from her seat.

“Um, I’m looking for Aerin Crosswhite,” an unfamiliar voice said in responseta Andy’s query as to how he could help the person–who was obviously male.

“And just who’s–” the young woman started to ask as she made her way over to the front door, only to cut herself off in shock.

“Aerin–ya all right?” Andy looked concerned as he took in how she’d blanched to the point of being white as a sheet.

“I–I–” She couldn’t even get the words out before her eyes rolled up in her head much like his own’d done when he’d found out about his impending fatherhood.

“Aerin!” the young front man cried, reaching to grab her when her legs started to buckle under her.

“Fuck a Duck, what the hell’s going on?” Rob queried, his own eyes widening as he stepped into the foyer to investigate.

“Ya fuckin’ got me, man,” he answered, grunting as he hauled her up to cradle against his chest.

Glancing up, the older bassist put the pieces together almost immediately. “Just put her on the couch for a minute–I’ve a few wordsta have with this one.”

“Ya sure?” Andy bit his lip uncertainly, clearly trying to play with a lip ring that hadn’t been there in Years outta habit.

“I’m sure, kid.” He simply nodded as he made to step out front. “And she’ll likely wanna have words of her own with him, maybe even his tag-along, once she comes to.”

Not about to argue with his would-be father-in-law, the young front man simply did as he was told and carried Aerin off to the living room. As he headed through the archway that led to it, said older man stepped out front, gently closing the front door behind him. He didn’t even have to ask to know who he was looking at–his wife’d shown him enough pictures of this man, albeit from decades past, to answer that question for himself.

“Well, I can safely say I never thought I’d meet Dagger Yanagawa in the flesh–prolly no more than my wife ever did,” Rob said, his tone level and even.

“I’m surprisedja can even pronounce my surname,” the man before him chuckled, sounding a bit nervous.

“My own surname’s just as hard to pronounce for those who aren’t used to it,” he told him, shrugging. “Hence why I tend to just use the last syllable and call it Grace.”

“I apologize for just showing up outta the blue like this,” Dagger sighed. “And with my sister, Katana, at that.”

“Now I see where my wife gets her Love of sharp, pointy objects from,” the older bassist chuckled, a smirk finally starting to curve his lips. “Kinda hard to avoid when your father’s named after one, your aunt named after another, I guess.”

“Wait, how’dja–” he started to ask, his eyes widening.

“Oh, don’t think me a fool for even a millisecond, even though I’m obviously far older than Aerin,” Rob said. “She’s shown me enough pictures–although from decades ago–that I’d be stupid not to put the pieces together on my own. Gods know I wouldn’t have figured out your name, if I didn’t recognize even an older version of ya.”

The slightly younger man’s surprise faded a bit as he nodded his agreement. “Yeah, I guess that’s true enough.”

“Be glad that I’m not one to come between family without a good reason,” he told him. “And that I’ve spent more of my sixty-one Years with the exact same questions as Aerin.”

Dagger didn’t seem inclined to argue the point as he opened the door and let them proceed him into the house.

In the living room, Aerin was once again upright, gingerly sipping the glass of Water she’d been handed by the young front man, who knelt next to her. She seemed cold and calculating to those who didn’t know her as the small group entered the room, but her husband knew what was going on. His guess was that she’d flipped her humanity switch to avoid allowing herself to get too attached, too fast without knowing what her father’s Intent was. That, or she was compartmentalizing so hard, it simply seemed that she’d flipped that particular Emotional switch like she did at Christmas.

The first thing their unexpected guest did was surprise her yet again by grabbing her for a tight hug once he’d settled beside her. Obviously, he wouldn’t have any way of knowing that his daughter wasn’t exactly a touchy-feely person with those didn’t know very well. Still, she surprised those who _did_ know her pretty well by sitting through the hug, although she didn’t so much as attempt to Return it before he let go.

“This Day’s too long in coming, Aerin,” he chuckled as he pulled back to hold her at arm’s length.

“If only to get certain answers,” the young woman agreed with a look that was a cross between suspicious and disdainful.

“I’m sure you’ve tons of questions,” Dagger said, nodding. “Hopefully, I’ll have the answersta those questions for ya.”

“I think my biggest question–why the hell wouldja cheat on Kat with her then-best friend, then take off for parts unknown?” she queried, cocking a brow at him.

_“That’s_ what she toldja all these Years?” her father countered with a snort. “Jeez, I _really_ didn’t know my ex-wife anywhere near as well as I thought back then.”

“Clearly,” Aerin agreed, lacing her fingers with those of her husband.

“Um, dare I ask whatcha mean by that?” Andy queried, a confused look on his face as he moved into the lone arm chair, now that he was assured she’d be fine.

“Long story short, my mother’s a notorious, habitual liar on top of being an abusive, narcissistic, money-grubbing bitch,” she answered. “But to get into the longer version, if only for Dagger’s sake so he’ll get my current attitude a lil better…”

Starting at the Beginning, the young woman walked those who didn’t already know through what she’d been told for as long as she could remember. According to those around her–like the grandmother who’d walked outta her Life not long before she left North Carolina–her parents’d wed in _South_ Carolina in January of 1993. Everybody swore they’d wed on the seventeenth, but after paying attention to the date stamp on a few old pictures her mother hadn’t been aware of her having, she’d caught the entire family in a lie.

It turned out that her parents’d _actually_ gotten married two Days prior to when everybody said, and if it hadn’t been for being able to dig up old records on it, she’d have been questioning even _where_ they married. Another thing she’d noticed–again, from actually paying attention to date stamps on old pictures–was that they hadn’t had what amounted to a reception for a Day shy of two weeks after the fact.

Turning her attention to her father, Aerin made no bones about having come up with a few different theories as to why those lies’d been perpetrated all those Years. Her first was that–contrary to her mother’s claim all her Life–the woman hadn’t been a virgin on the Night they’d wed. Obviously, there was only two ways that woulda happened–either she’d slept with the man she’d married sooner than she’d always claimed, or she’d cheated on him with an outside party.

“It most certainly wasn’t me she slept with, then,” Dagger told her. “’Cuz I’ve been living under that same assumption for upwards of thirty Years now.”

“Then it’s a Wonder you’re actually my dad,” she drawled, a bemused look on her face. “Sperm can survive in the female reproductive tract for up to a week after being deposited, after all.”

“You’re fuckin’ kidding me,” the young front man breathed, looking surprised.

“Nope, I’m most certainly not,” Aerin answered. “Which means my mother wouldn’t necessarily _have_ to be fertile when she cheated to’ve conceived me.”

“But DNA doesn’t lie, unlike humans,” her father pointed out. “If I hadn’t gotten a match through _Ancestry DNA,_ I wouldn’t have bothered tracking her down–which I’ll admit was harder to do than I thought it’d be.”

“No doubt from Kat originally Changing my surname when I was four,” the young woman admitted. “Then me Changing even my given and middle names later on.”

“Wait, Aerin’s not your real name?” Andy queried.

“It is _now,_ but it wasn’t always,” she answered. “The name that was originally on my Birth Certificate was Kelsi Rae.”

“Which I’m having to refrain from calling ya now since that was your name the last Time I saw ya when ya were four months old,” Dagger chuckled.

Rolling her eyes, the young woman told him that he’d be wiseta _keep_ doing that, or she’d simply ignore him like he didn’t exist at best. She’d always hated her name for two reasons–the first being that it rhymed with the old-fashioned name of a great-grandmother who’d hardly anything to do with her growing up. The second was ’cuz she’d tired of folks screaming her former given name like they were trying to wake the Dead when she was around the age of fourteen. At the first available opportunity, she’d picked something that she considered a better fit for herself, which was one of the reasons she’d ultimately left home.

Getting the conversation back on track, though, Aerin explained how she’d gone through with taking her own _Ancestry DNA_ test. She hadn’t expected to get in touch with any family members off her father’s side of the family Tree–after all, she’d supposedly tracked down his address when she was eighteen, but it hadn’t panned out. Doubting anything’d pan out any more than that had, she’d contented herself with at least knowing where her blood line’d started and who might be a part of it. The surprising thing was that she supposedly had a Hawaiian King somewhere in there, but she’d never really looked into it since it was no more interesting to her than the possibility of having a Civil War General somewhere on her mother’s side of the family.

Everybody was enthralled as she recounted what she’d been told about Dagger supposedly cheating with her mother’s then-best friend. That even included a baby girl supposedly with almost identical coloring to herself, which was what’d led everybody to believe that he’d been that baby girl’s father. After all, said former best friend of Kat and her husband both’d been blue-eyed blondes, so it’d be pretty hard for them to make a child with such Dark tones without cheating or a sperm donation from elsewhere. Unfortunately, whether that baby was her half-sister or not didn’t particularly matter–she’d died as an infant, so there’d be no meeting her now.

From there, she’d always been told that her father’d deserted herself and her mother in favor of Returning to his home State of California. She thought she recalled something about his being stationed elsewhere previousta actually making that Return, but she wasn’t entirely sure. Gods only knew that if it weren’t for the records she’d been able to dig up, she’d have been questioning whether he really _was_ a military man back then, too.

After that, it’d supposedly taken till she was two and a-half Years old for her parents’ divorce–which’d been ongoing since she was either in utero or an infant–to be finalized. Her mother’d supposedly run ads in various California newspapers in an attempt to get Dagger back out East for a custody battle, and he’d shown absolutely zero interest in the matter. Now, she was starting to question that, based on what she knew about her mother and an old letter she’d since lost, but remembered the basic gist of. Dated for sometime in January of 1994, it’d said something about his check being in the bank for her to withdraw the following week and his having Christmas presents he’d wanted passed on to his then-infant daughter. In addition to that, it’d said something about him using a picture of her as the bookmark in his bible, but that was all she remembered now.

“I vaguely remember writing that letter,” Dagger admitted. “That was the last one I ever managed to send that _didn’t_ get sent back with _Return to Sender_ written on it.”

“I kinda figured she’d been bullshitting me on that all my Life,” the young woman grumbled. “She swore up and down thatcha had the addressta where my great-grandparents–and later the rest of us–lived, but you’d never sent so much as a birthday or Christmas card after that.”

“Ya know, I hated your mother before this, even though I’ve only met her once–but now I _really_ hate her,” Rob dead-panned. “And it takes a lot to make me truly hate someone.”

“Too well I know it, love,” she agreed, gently squeezing his hand. “You’re just as open-minded as I am, so when ya hate someone–well, it needsta be taken personally, ’cuz there’s a damn good reason for it.”

Her father seemed like he wanted to ask, but clearly didn’t dare, as he studied the two of them.

“Yeah, I’m married to a man older than my own father–in more ways than one,” Aerin laughed. “Growing up without my dad gave me more than a few _Daddy issues,_ as it were–but that’s one of the reasons why he and I connected.”

“I wasn’t kidding when I said that I’ve had the same questions as her out front,” he chuckled. “My own dad took off when I was an infant, so I’ve never met him–prolly never will, either, ’cuz he’s prolly dead by now.”

“My condolences,” the slightly younger man said. “I can’t help but wonder exactly why ya hate my ex-wife so bad, if you’ve only met her once, though.”

“Well, I wasn’t kidding when I said she’s an abusive, narcissistic, money-grubbing bitch,” Aerin told him.

She made no bones about how she’d been shoved aside all her Life in favor of her younger half-brother, how her mother’d claimed that that was her former stepfather’s doing. As it turned out, Ryan Duke’d done no such thing–in fact, he actually _still_ thought of her as his daughter, even nearly twenty Years after his own divorce from Kat. Finding that out’d taken quite a bit of sweet-talking on that aforementioned half-brother’s part, but he’d finally convinced her to sit down with the man and hear him out for herself.

Looking almost lost in another World as she recalled what she could about her childhood, the young woman laid out all the various ways she’d been abused pretty much from the moment of conception. She didn’t really hold the first five Years of her Life against her mother, even though she damn well coulda, and never had. After all, she’d been a full-Time college student _and_ worked every dead-End, minimum-wage job she could find full-Time on top of it. But after she’d married her ex-stepdad, things’d quickly taken a downhill turn, and they’d never gotten any better from there.

It was around the age of ten that Kat’d started telling all her various lies, ’cuz that’d been about the age Aerin’d started asking questions about her biological father. Things were already so bad even then that she’d been terrified to go to her mother about starting her first period in the Summer of 2006. Her only reason for actually doing so was Fearing a belt whipping, not for the Guidance and reassurance of her mother.

When she’d been fifteen, that was when she’d been the one to ask her first ex-boyfriend out, ’cuz he’d been too chickenshit to ask _her_ out instead. It hadn’t taken more than a month after that for Kat to drag her into her doctor’s office, wherein she’d her put on Birth Control that she honestly didn’t need. Sex’d been the furthest thing from her mind at that point, even though she was dating, ’cuz she was terrified of what her mother’d do, if she went _down by the tracks_ and came home pregnant. Putting her on that particular medication’d actually been what opened the door to her ditching her virginity when she did–otherwise, she’d have prolly still been a virgin when her pappaw died right after her twenty-first birthday.

“After that, things got progressively worse,” she said. “Now, whether this is true or not, I dunno, but it certainly _sounds_ like something Kat’d say.”

“And what’s that?” This was asked by her aunt, who’d been Silent up to this point.

“As my grandmother–whom I call _The Critter_ these Days–tells it, she didn’t even claim me as her kid by the Time my pappaw died,” the young woman said.

“You’re fuckin’ shitting me,” her father breathed.

“Nope–claims she asked her for a hug at his funeral and got told that only _her kid_ was allowed to hug her before turning and hugging that half-brother I’ve mentioned,” Aerin told them. “And a few Years after that, didn’t even mention the fact that she’d a daughter who was–at the Time–living with her mother at a family get-together where she met her now-ex’s family for the first Time.”

None of them could help a wince at the mere Thought of someone doing such a thing.

“By the Spring of 2019, I was hell-bound and determined to get outta there,” she continued. “If I’d stayed there–well, I’d be in either a jail or padded cell, if not my own grave.”

Rob hugged his wife almost possessively, gently nuzzling her hair.

“Was it risky to take off on foot with just a handful of possessionsta my name, then hitchhike with truckers whenever they were kind enough to offer me a ride?” the young woman queried. “Ya bet your sweet genitalia, it was. But doing that got me out to Nashville, where I started piecing together a family that’s treated me better than those I share blood with–excluding Dagger and his ilk for the moment, of course–ever Dreamt of doing previousta that.”

“Why exclude me and my side of the family, though?” he queried curiously.

“’Cuz I’m saying I’m neutral–as in, at a dead zero–on how I feel about y’all for right now,” Aerin answered. “I dunno y’all from Adam’s house Cat, but I’m open-minded enough to give y’all a chance.”

“Since ya weren’t a part of her Life before and there’s clearly been more than a couple lies told, she’s not gonna hold that againstcha now,” her husband clarified. “Not like she holds the rest of her family’s wrong-doings against _them,_ anywhore.”

“So, starting with a fresh slate, then?” Dagger chuckled. “I can work with that, ’cuz I honestly expected to get the door slammed in my face instead of even getting to talk to her.”

“Oh, trust me–I’d have been sorely tempted,” the young woman admitted. “But my own good sense prolly woulda overridden that–and if it didn’t, my husband prolly wouldn’t have lemme do that.”

“Not when you’re getting the chanceta get answers for yourself that I’ll prolly never get for myself,” Rob assured her in a no-nonsense tone.

Letting out a chuckle of her own, she assured him that the only thing that’d make her rescind her word now was being given reason to. If her father tried to break them up, or Gods forbid hurt her or her family, that’d be a good enough reason for her to turn her back on him, no questions asked. She didn’t get a chanceta specify who all she meant as family, though, before a pair of adorable yawns greeted them before those who’d let them out toddled into the living room.

Aerin ignored her father’s and aunt’s surprised looks as she switched gears into what she called _Mommy mode,_ her childrens’ well-being taking precedence over all else. The fact that their Pull-Ups were obviously sagging in a dire need to be changed didn’t help with that, which just made her husband chuckle as they both rose from the couch. He knew damn good and well that when it came to himself and especially these two, she wouldn’t let even others she shared blood with stop her from waging War, if any threats–especially threats of Violence–were made.

However, as the Silver Fox helped her cart the twins off to get cleaned up real quick, he couldn’t help laughing under his breath. The young woman cocked a brow at him as they headed into the twins’ nursery, but he simply shook his head. After all, he was pretty sure she’d figure out that he was thinking that it seemed like every Time things settled down, something stirred the Cauldron again, so to speak.


	76. Seventy-Five

“I _still_ can’t believe that I’m not just a daddy, but a grampa, too.”

Aerin couldn’t help laughing at her father’s Awed words as she looked up from helping Rob load the dishwasher after lunch. She didn’t even have to ask him to know that he’d Traveled out here from So Cal under the impression that he’d meet just his now-grown daughter. Finding out that she was not only married–and to a man older than himself with kids _her_ age–but a mother in her own right was no doubt quite the surprise for him.

“It’s been three Years now, and sometimes, I still can’t believe it, either,” she chuckled.

“Whyddaya say that?” Dagger queried, cocking a brow as he looked up from the toddlers sitting uncertainly in his lap.

“’Cuz to be honest, I never wanted kids,” the young woman answered. “I didn’t wanna take chances with becoming even more like the _Birth Bitch,_ nor passing on any of the shit I know about running in _her_ side of the family’s medical history.”

His eyes widened, but he still nodded his Understanding.

“Add in not knowing a damn thing about your side of the family when it comesta that kinda thing, and I _really_ didn’t wanna take my chances,” Aerin continued.

“Thought I was done having kids, myself back when _she_ was still a kid,” her husband chuckled. “Two was more than enough for me, especially with my career back then.”

“I’ve thoughtcha looked familiar, but I haven’t been able to place it,” Dagger admitted.

Laughing, Rob made no bones about having been in one of the biggest bandsta ever come outta the eighties up till not quite two Years ago. No doubt he’d heard his name or seen pictures of him in various places over the Years, whether he liked it or not. However, if he hadn’t particularly been a fan of his band, it was understandable that he’d forget where he knew him from pretty quickly.

“Yeah, I can’t say that I was ever much of a fan of Poison,” the slightly younger man chuckled. “Now, Mötley Crüe, on the other hand–they’re a different story.”

“Pretty good guys, at the End of the Day,” he told him. “I mean, they’ve facetsta their personalities that even I don’t like, but don’t we all?”

“I suppose that’s true,” Dagger agreed, nodding.

“But yeah, with all those reasons combined–well, the twins definitely _weren’t_ planned,” Aerin said, wincing as she made to push herself back up to her feet.

Her husband looked just as concerned as her father as he helped her up, knowing that today was one of her bad Days.

“Ya all right?” said father asked, torn between staying where he was and setting said twins down so he could help them.

“Bad joint Day,” the young woman answered, waving him off. “Been that way since even before I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis a few Years ago.”

His eyes widened in surprise before he winced sympathetically. “I know the feeling, unfortunately.”

Cocking a brow curiously as she and Rob joined him at the breakfast nook table, Andy and Zoe having eaten in the latter’s bedroom, she couldn’t help wondering what he meant. She certainly wasn’t expecting him to tell her that–almost unbelievably–the disease ran as rampant on his side of the family as diabetes did on her mother’s. Not only had his own father and paternal grandparents had it, but so did he and all his siblings–even identical twins, Chiaki and Chiye.

Aerin couldn’t help grumbling as she settled in her previous seat, part of her glad to finally have an answer to _that_ particular question. The main thing that made her grumble and groan about it wasn’t even the fact that she’d gotten that kinda diagnosis, herself. From the sounds of things, it was almost a guarantee that Zep and Zeph’d eventually be diagnosed with the joint-eating disease, too.

Nodding sadly, Dagger agreed that it seemed most likely that even his young grandchildren’d eventually be diagnosed thus. If it’d been just a random occurrence every once in a while within his family Tree, he wouldn’t be so inclined to agreed. But it seemed that everybody within the Yanagawa family, excluding those she referred to as _marry-ins,_ wound up getting such an unfortunate diagnosis sooner or later. Most got it when they were still pretty young, and the disease could therefore be mitigated with treatment before _too_ much damage was done to their joints, though.

“Wish I’d been amongst that group,” the young woman sighed. “But that was just one of the ways that Kat abused me growing up.”

“Whaddaya mean?” Katana queried, just as curious as her baby brother was.

“That she pretty much refused to take me or my half-brother to a doctor unless we were dying, or something like a school system demanded it,” she answered.

Both of them winced, now getting an even better picture of why she despised her mother so.

“The last Time I went to a doctor before I wound up in Nashville, I was nineteen,” Aerin told them. “And that was simply ’cuz she insisted I’ve my Birth Control scrip renewed, even though I’d absolutely no need for it at that point.”

“What about before then?” her father asked.

“I was twelve or thirteen–I forget exactly how old,” the young woman answered.

“You’re kidding me,” Dagger growled, careful to watch his choice phrasing with the twins present.

“Nope, and the only reason she took either of us then was ’cuz we were switching from one school system to another,” she answered. “But she pretty much forbade me to open my mouth about all the pain I was in, even back then, and insisted that said pain was just from being fat.”

“Well, I doubt being even slightly overweight woulda helped matters,” the slightly younger man admitted. “But no, your joint pain obviously wasn’t and wouldn’t have been caused by just that.”

Aerin chuckled as she admitted that she’d been quite the chubby kid–she could remember already being over a hundred and ten pounds at the age of ten when she was in sixth grade. But she’d only packed on about twenty more pounds by the Time she started high school a few Years later, despite her laziness. The only thing that’d made her weight start increasing at that point was the Birth Control she’d been forcibly put on, and later her own bad habits. However, stepping on the scale one Day in 2012 and seeing a hundred and ninety-three pounds pop up’d essentially flipped a switch in her head, and she’d simply stopped eating as much. When she’d added a daily multivitamin and occasionally a booster, the weight’d more or less simply fallen off her.

She was relieved to find out that her ongoing battle with a magnesium deficiency was caused by her own stupid choices as much as Rob’s rectal prolapse was caused by his. Apparently, those stemming from Asian blood like she was weren’t at any real increased risk of developing such a thing when it came to their genetics. If they developed the condition, it seemed to be purely due to their own choices or simply not being able to afford to eat healthy in the first place.

Even the Silver Fox was relieved to hear that she’d been to only one outta the Yanagawa family to even Self-diagnose such a problem. He’d seen enough over the last five Years or so to know how much she struggled with getting enough of that particular element, not to mention what’d happen, if she didn’t. Combined with that rheumatoid arthritis, he knew she’d to be an incredibly strong and stubborn woman to fight through it, rather than offing herself due to the pain every Day she woke up. It just made him love her that much more than he already did, and he wasn’t the slightest bit ashamed to admit it.

They all turned toward the front door with cocked brows when they heard a key in the front door, Zep and Zeph managing to squirm outta their grampa’s lap with excited squeals. Said man tried to hold them back till his own daughter gently stopped him with a shake of her head by grabbing his hand. It didn’t take a geniusta figure out why they’d taken off like they had, considering they’d heard that key, so she wasn’t worried.

“Got a party going on, huh, sis?” Ash chuckled as he, Aidan, and their son joined the rest of the adults.

“Lil bit, yeah,” Aerin laughed, rising to hug him.

“Is this the half-brother ya were talking about?” her father queried, a curious look on his face.

“No, but he might as well be my full-blooded brother, for all that either of us’re concerned,” the young woman chuckled.

Dagger and Katana both seemed just as curious as her best friends did.

“These’re my best friends, Ash and Aidan,” she explained. “Ash was the start of that family I’ve been piecemealing together when I first hit Nashville, Aidan was my best friend. When I introduced ’em to each other–well, let’s just say they hit it off and haven’t looked at anyone else since.”

“A pleasure,” he said, holding out his hand to the youngest man in the room.

“I guess,” the younger bassist agreed uncertainly, glancing at his claimed sister as he accepted the handshake.

“Y’all might wanna park your asses for this one,” Aerin chuckled. “’Cuz let’s just say your brains’re ’bout to vapor-lock on me, and I don’t feel like cleaning said brains up off my floor.”

The other couple cocked their brows curiously as they took the seats they vacated, Rob stealing baby Dallas from his mother’s arms for safety’s sake.

“Believe it or not, guys, but you’re looking at the man who helped Create me,” the young woman said, clearly biting back a snicker.

“Wait, you’re seriously talking about the guy whose balls ya were once trapped in as a microscopic cell?” Ash queried, both their jaws dropping.

“Yeah, that’d be him,” she laughed, grinning at their reactions.

Dagger couldn’t help a chuckle of his own any more than his youngest of three older sisters could, but didn’t try to deny it. After all, as he’d said just a couple hours ago, DNA didn’t lie about this kinda thing the way humans were notorious for doing. Even if it _was_ just the results of an _Ancestry DNA_ kit, it was still a positive DNA match all the same, and that was really the only part that mattered to him.

The younger bassist was certainly surprised by his having come out to Tenn after tracking down his long-lost daughter, that was for sure. Even Aidan was a bit surprised by that, but she didn’t deny being skeptical about his Intentions when it came to the young woman. She’d seen her as a younger sister for a few too many Yearsta let just anyone pop up in her Life, if they didn’t have pure Intentions. His being her father didn’t Change that, especially after all the shit she’d heard about her family, even before she’d left her home State and started heading West.

“Turns out that a lot more lies got told than what even I thought,” Aerin told her.

“Ooh, goody–this is gonna be a doozy,” the ginger dead-panned.

“Oh, ya don’t even know the half of it,” she laughed. “Hell, it’s a Wonder Dagger’s even my father, considering one of the lies that got told.”

Aidan cocked a brow at her as she took her son back, now that she wasn’t at risk of dropping him.

“Remember those three theories I posed to ya when we got to chatting about that picture of my parents on either side of a lil pickup truck with _Doomed_ written in the back window on their wedding Day?” the young woman queried.

“Yeah, I remember,” she answered, nodding. “Either your mother’d fucked up on labeling certain shit in that old calendar ’cuz of the Chaos of the Time, your parents slept together sooner than everyone realized back then, or something more nefarious was going on.”

“I like your choice of words, young miss,” Dagger chuckled. “’Cuz I’d say finding out upwards of thirty Years after the fact that my ex-wife cheated on me right before our wedding is definitely _nefarious,_ indeed.”

Both the other couple’s jaws dropped as they processed that.

“Yeah, turns out that Kat fuckin’ cheated on him, then apparently tried to cover it up with a quick wedding,” Aerin said. “Butcha know the line outta that Shakespeare play…”

_“Hasty marriage seldom proveth well,”_ the ginger mused, quoting the line in question with ease.

Nodding, she said that whoever’d written the word _Doomed_ on the back window of what she assumed was her father’s truck in white shoe polish musta been some sorta psychic. Even if they hadn’t known about the more nefarious undertones leading up to the wedding any more than _he_ had himself, they’d summed up the Ending of that particular marriage well. Things’d obviously been a lot worse off than anyone prolly coulda imagined, and she didn’t think it’d a damn thing with her parents both being a tender twenty-one back then.

Ash’s eyes widened as he glanced at the newcomers, who both laughed merrily enough at his reaction to that particular statement. He was surprised that the male of the pair was but three Days younger than his best friend’s mother, born in Honolulu on July tenth. Since it turned out that he’d been born the same Year as Kat, she hadn’t had to do a whole lotta acrobatics to figure out his age at the Time they’d gotten married.

The young woman said that her mother’d been twenty-two when she was born, which meant that she’d have been twenty-one at the Time of their wedding. If they were born only three Days apart in the same Year, Dagger woulda been of an identical age–and that’d still be the case now. After having almost thirty-two Years pass, she didn’t have to ask whether he was on the verge of turning fifty-four or not. Granted, that didn’t stop him from confirming her guess by saying that he was now less than a month away from his fifty-fourth birthday as much as her mother was.

“Yeah, I thought so, but math’s never been my strong suit,” Aerin chuckled.

“Never really was mine, either,” he admitted with a chuckle of his own. “I’ve always been more of an artsy kinda person.”

“Man, you’re gonna fit right into this mismatched family!” Ash laughed.

“Oh, and how so?” her father asked, cocking a brow.

“I’ve a degree in advertising and graphic design,” the younger bassist chuckled. “Hell, I’m the one that came up with my old band’s logo and did a lotta the clothing designs for it back in the Day.”

Dagger looked surprised, which made his daughter laugh.

“He and Andy’re actually former band mates,” she explained. “But we’ll get into _that_ backstory some other Time since it’s a bit of a long one.”

“Sounds good to me,” the male newcomer agreed.

“I’m guessing you’ve already told him…?” He gestured to Rob, earning himself a nod. “So, there’s another fairly artistic one in the family.”

“And I’m actually the one who drew all my tats before they ever got inked,” Aerin admitted, gesturing to her arms.

“I’ll admit that my vision’s even worse than when I first met your mother,” he told her. “Hell, I’m technically legally blind, but I’m too stubborn to let it stop me till I’m completely blind.”

Laughing again as she moved closer to let him at least attempt to see the tats on her arms, the young woman admitted that that confirmed at least one more thing she’d been told when she was younger. It also explained part of why he’d brought her aunt with him, ’cuz she was prolly kinda like a seeing-eye Dog that just happened to walk on two legs for him. Short of that, the only other reasons she could think of off the top of her head was that the woman’d been excited to meet her for herself and wanted to offer moral support, too.

Dagger nodded as he studied the designs on his daughter’s arms, then her shoulder blades once she turned around so he could see her back. He’d to lean in pretty close and squint quite a bit, even with the glasses he was wearing, but he was able to make out what they were well enough. Granted, she’d to correct him when he misidentified the Flowers in her tats, but that was a trivial matter, as far as they were both concerned.

Settling back in her seat, Aerin finished up with filling in her best friends on how they’d wound up reconnected after all these Years. In addition to that, she made it clear that as long as he didn’t give her reason to do otherwise, she was open to getting to know him. While she’d prolly never call him _Daddy_ –and it’d nothing to do with how old she was–it was at least a start, and one he was glad to have. He might take a while to get used to certain things, such as her being a Pagan who steered clear of spell work, but he’d do it eventually. They’d been separated for far too long, and he wasn’t about to let something so trivial as differing religious views come between them now.

Aidan was the first to nod her approval at his words, but she was also just as quick to pin a hard look on him and his sister. She told them in no uncertain terms that as much as her best friend watched out for them and had their backs, they reciprocated for her, too. If she got even the slightest feeling that he was gonna hurt her, her husband, or any of their collective children, her own husband wouldn’t be able to stop her from opening a helluva can of whoop-ass on him, to put it lightly. This young woman’d been through far too much for being as young as she was, and she wasn’t gonna let him put her through even more hell on top of it.


	77. Seventy-Six

Getting to know her Birth father for the man he truly was at heart was hands-down one of the best experiences of Aerin’s Life. She felt a bit guilty that she’d believed her mother’s lies till around the Time her beloved pappaw’d passed, but the good thing was that she knew they were just that now. Throwing everything she’d thought she ever knew about her father out the window and starting with a clean slate was no doubt the best thing she coulda ever done for herself besides leaving North Carolina.

Finding out that she’d a stepmother in addition to not one, but four younger siblings on his side of the family was a more than pleasant surprise. It turned out that Dagger’d remarried when she was six Years old, so at about the same Time her mother’d wed her ex-stepdad. He’d been with the same woman ever since, so for upwards of twenty Years now, which she considered a good thing. That same woman was the mother of her younger siblings on his side of the family, all those siblings being two sets of twins. Clearly, her own mother’s claim that twins really did run on his side had been true, and there was no denying that now.

Yet another surprise she’d gotten came from a conversation with her father about what he remembered when it came to how he’d met her mother–or rather, that general Time period. He didn’t exactly wanna talk about how he’d met her, and she chose not to push him on the matter, but he remembered one particularly significant detail.

Even Rob was surprised to find out that the young woman actually turned out to be a twin in her own right, considering that she’d told him she wasn’t. It turned out that she’d been an identical twin, but her mother’d lost the other baby early in her pregnancy with them. For whatever reason she couldn’t fathom now, Kat’d never told her that fairly important fact about herself, and it only raised her hatred of her even more. She thought it mighta been the same reason she didn’t talk about the miscarriage she’d suffered before her younger half-brother was born when she was seven–the typical feminine anguish and assumption that she wasn’t a good mother or something. But on the flip-side, she thought that was just one more of her ways of abusing her all her Life, considering how her mother was when she fled.

Putting her mother as far from her mind as she possibly could, Aerin focused solely on her father and his side of the family. It hadn’t taken long for her to find out that not only had Dagger actually served as a medic during _Desert Storm,_ her stepmother–Sadi–was currently an ER nurse. None of them realized just how handy that was gonna be in the near Future, but they were all gonna be glad for the combined medical Knowledge.

When she’d extended an invitation to their annual _Mabon_ celebration, the young woman’d made it quite clear that none of the Yanagawas’d to join her family, if they didn’t wanna. She’d made it clear right from Day One when she was reunited with her father that she respected he was of a Faith that was the polar opposite of her own. Like she’d once told her husband, she didn’t particularly care _what_ he believed in and practiced–or didn’t, for that matter–as long as it didn’t fall under the _Dark Arts_. But as he’d said from that very same Day, he refused to let religious and cultural differences come between them. Finding out that _Mabon_ was basically supposed to be Thanksgiving, just celebrated a couple months earlier at its very core’d been enough to convince him and that side of her family to fly out East to celebrate it with them.

As she’d been carrying one of the dishes for their feast to the breakfast nook table, though, everything’d gone sideways in a split second. With an ungodly screech that outdid anything she’d let out while laboring with Zep and Zeph, Aerin went down like a barrel of bricks. The casserole dish she’d been carrying shattered on the floor, sending its contents across the kitchen floor in a goopy mess.

_“Aerin!”_ Rob all but dropped what he’d been carrying in favor of darting past the island and around the End of the peninsula counter to where his wife lay on the floor.

“What on Earth?”

Glancing up after kneeling down next to her, he was relieved to see his father-in-law in the dining room doorway. “I dunno what the hell just happened–just that she screamed and went down like a barrel of bricks.”

“Don’t touch her, then.” This was said by Sadi, who was quick to shove her own husband aside to join him. “We don’t wanna worsen any possible spinal injuries.”

“Trust me, I know that all too well,” the Silver Fox grumbled as Ash, Aidan, and his older kids kept the lil ones and any other invited family and friends outta the way.

Sadi’s eyes widened as she gently grabbed her hip as she prepared to roll her onto her back, which made her let out another one of those ungodly screeches. “Jesus Christ…”

“The hell’s wrong with her?” he queried, wincing at the volume of that screech so much closer to his ear and his wife’s continued agonized sobs.

“Dislocated hip,” the nurse answered as she turned to look over her shoulder. “Jack, go get my kit outta my bag!”

“On it, Mom!” an adolescent male voice answered.

“You’re sure of that?” Rob asked, horrified at the possible diagnosis.

“See how her leg’s at this unnatural angle?” she countered, careful not to actually touch her as she gestured to what she meant.

Nodding, the Silver Fox kept quiet and waited for her to continue.

“Indicative of a dislocated hip,” Sadi told him. “Seen it too many Times in the ER for it to fly over my head, unfortunately.”

“Fuck a Duck,” he groaned. “So, what the hell can we do to fix it?”

“Depends on whether she’s a history of dislocations or not,” the nurse said.

“Not to my Knowledge, but I know she’s been having trouble with it since before I met her,” Rob told her.

“She’s rheumatoid arthritis, just like the rest of us, love,” Dagger spoke up as he knelt down.

Swearing as colorfully as a sailor at Sea, she said that it wasn’t very likely an attempt to reduce the joint’d work, regardless of who did it. If she’d suffered with that disease for Years before even getting her diagnosis, it was likely that Aerin’d need a hip replacement. Then again, even if she didn’t, it’d be best to get X-rays done to see exactly what they were dealing with, which could only be done in a hospital.

Jack ran up with what his mother’d requested seconds later, which was basically an EMT’s kit that she always kept on hand. The first responder in her never knew when she’d need it, but it was always better to have it handy, even when she didn’t. All but snatching it outta his hands, she thanked him as she ripped it opened and grabbed a pair of gloves before she even bothered grabbing anything else. First things first, she wanted her on fluidsta keep her vitals stable, not to mention something for the pain since that’d no doubt help Calm her down so she could work.

Rob moved so that he could crouch over his wife’s head, mostly so he could stay outta his in-laws’ way as they got to work on her. Not only that, but keeping his attention on Calming her down made her focus on him enough that she didn’t even notice the IV get started. Well, that was after she warned her stepmother not to start it anywhere but the back of her hand, or she was gonna turn into the World’s worst patient.

In a bid to keep her talking for as long as possible–not to mention give her something elseta focus on–the nurse’d asked her what she meant. Aerin’d found out not long before fleeing North Carolina that she’d what phlebotomists referred to as _dancers_. That made her husband cock a brow as he glanced up, Dagger chuckling as he managed to work alongside his wife, despite his horrible vision. Said slightly younger man was quick to explain that that meant her vein’d a bad tendency of moving within her arm, so it was oft hard to actually hit with an intravenous needle. If she’d already been through a bad experience due to that, it was no Wonder she didn’t wanna take chances with going through that again–not while she was awake and aware, anywhore.

“Bastards at that plasma donation clinic blew my fuckin’ vein that Day,” the young woman groaned. “Let’s just say it makes me wanna steer clear of IVs as much as a bad experience with a cavity filling makes me wanna steer clear of dentists.”

“I’ll ask about that some other Time, sweetheart,” he chuckled. “Unless you’d rather talk about it now, that is.”

“Let’s just say that some dentists’re assholes,” Aerin grumbled, not even wincing as that IV was started in the back of her hand. “The bastard I dealt with was more concerned with getting me outta his chair so he could take his lunch break than whether the Novacine’d kicked in before he started drilling.”

Even her stepmother winced sympathetically. “Yeah, I can see that making just about anyone wanna avoid a repeat of such a situation.”

“Good thing’s that we’re not like that,” her father assured her. “Unless it’s a Life-saving measure, we’re not moving ya till we’re absolutely sure the painkiller’s kicked in once we give it to ya.”

“Well, once we find out about any allergies, hon,” Sadi chuckled.

“None, if ya don’t count pollen and Cats,” she told her. “Far as I know, my mother and maternal grandmother were allergic to Percocet, but I proved not to be, amazingly enough.”

“If you’re not allergic to that or any similar medications, ya ought not be allergic to anything like Morphine,” the nurse mused. “’Cuz trust me, I’ve never seen a dislocated hip patient keep their Sanity with anything less, or I wouldn’t suggest going that strong right off the bat.”

“Just don’t make it anything like Fentanyl, and I think we’ll be good,” Aerin chuckled. “’Cuz I saw what a zombie that shit made my husband a few Years ago, I’ve heard a few too many horror stories about it, and I’m pretty sure I’ve an addictive personality on top of it.”

“Rectal prolapse,” the Silver Fox said when Sadi shot him a curious look. “They didn’t even bother with anything weaker than Fentanyl just to get me out to the ambulance ’cuz of how I was sobbing.”

Laughing, even as she winced sympathetically again, she assured them that she wasn’t gonna give her stepdaughter a dose of _that_ particular drug unless absolutely necessary. Having worked in the medical field for decades, she’d seen the effects of various drugs as they hit the market far too often for her liking. She knew damn good and well just how addictive Fentanyl and other painkillers were, especially to those who already had addictive personalities.

Before she’d let her push the drug she actually Intended to give her, the young woman bellowed for her male best friend. Ash was quick to jump up from where he’d been helping to corral toddlers and run through the den, which allowed him to enter through the dining room. He couldn’t help a wince as he knelt next to Dagger, knowing just what a trooper his friend was based on how Calm she was acting.

Not bothering to mince words, she told him to go out to the garage and grab one of the sheets of plywood, as well as the ratchet straps she kept out there. Having talked to a few of her neighbors, she knew that EMS’d a bad habit of taking forever to finally make it out to this area when anyone called them, and she wasn’t in the mood to wait. It’d be quicker and easier, if they were to load her into the back of her Tahoe and haul her to the nearest ER, themselves. That ER was at Fort Loudoun Medical Center, which was actually closer to his own house in Lenoir City, but certain things’d to be done first. If those things _weren’t_ done–well, she wasn’t holding herself responsible for anyone’s ear drums being blown out, at the very least.

Sadi was quick to agree that Creating a makeshift backboard, if they were gonna haul her to the ER themselves, was a must. After all, they didn’t know what if any spinal injuries she’d incurred from her initial fall, and it’d offer additional Stability for her hip. Once he was told what she’d been diagnosed with thus far, the younger bassist was quick to jump back up so he could turn for the garage. Since he knew he was likely to need help with even a narrow strip of plywood, he managed to get Rob to join him since Aerin was obviously in good hands. Her father and stepmother both obviously knew what they were doing, and the only way he could see her taking a turn for the worse at the moment was Divine intervention or something.

“I’m just not gonna be able to help get her out to the truck,” the Silver Fox sighed as they were rummaging around in the garage.

“Andja think _she_ was able to help get _you_ to much of anywhere when your guts were hanging outta your ass?” Ash retorted good-Naturedly.

“Good point,” he agreed with a chuckle. “No doubt she felt just as helpless then as I do now.”

“Besides, you’re gonna be a helluva help at the hospital,” the younger bassist pointed out. “Since you’re legally married now, you’re technically her next-of-kin.”

“Yeah, that’s definitely true,” Rob said, nodding as he finally found those ratchet straps. “I’d still rather ya be there with me, just in case I fall asleep or something since you’re her Power of Attorney, too.”

“Like you’ve even gotta ask,” he told him as they crossed the Bridge back to the house. “Long as the others don’t mind watching munchkins, I was actually planning on going just to keep your head on straight, if nothing else.”

“I knew there was a reason I likedja the Day we met down in Florida,” the Silver Fox laughed, helping him wrangle the sheet of plywood into the kitchen.

“Nah, I think that was how I actually smacked her when she demanded it,” Ash retorted as they laid out the plywood they were dragging.

Taking command once again, Sadi got the pair to help get her stepdaughter moved onto the piece of Wood once they’d padded it for her Comfort. Aerin was already loopy-fied on Morphine, so she wasn’t really feeling a thing at that point compared to just a few minutes ago. She still winced and let out a soft whimper once they started moving her, but at least she wasn’t screeching like a Banshee anymore.

Once she was as settled as they were gonna get her for the moment, Dagger got to work helping the younger bassist get the ratchet straps set up for use. It took a couple minutesta achieve that, but once they had, he let the younger man take over since he could actually see what he was doing. That was when he headed into the den, where his grandchildren were whimpering in Fear since they didn’t know what was going on. All they knew was that Mommy was obviously in worse pain than they’d ever seen her in, ’cuz they knew she didn’t scream, and certainly not like that.

Shortly after getting the young woman strapped down as well as they could, Bret, Rikki, Ash, and Andy were teaming up to carry her out to her truck. Rob still felt bad that he couldn’t help with that part, but he certainly wasn’t willing to take chances with his neck, even upwards of twenty Years after his surgery. Instead, he made sure the seats were laid down, then got settled to drive while they were getting her as settled as they could for not having an ambulance.

Less than an hour after arriving at Fort Loudoun Medical Center, Aerin’d been officially diagnosed with a dislocated hip. Judging by what was revealed in the X-rays taken in the ER, trying to reduce the joint so that it was popped back into place wasn’t gonna do much good. There was so much damage due to her rheumatoid arthritis that it prolly wouldn’t stay in long before it dislocated again, and if it did, it’d be a miracle. Getting a hip replacement, even though she wasn’t even thirty-two, was gonna be her best bet for not winding up wheelchair-bound for the rest of her Life.

Naturally, Rob was concerned about his wife and her well-being, especially once the attending physician told him she was gonna have to be transferred to UT Medical Center in Knoxville. But they’d talked about this kinda thing months, even Years ago on the off-chance that such an occurrence ever cropped up. Since the damage to her joints was only gonna progress, it was either go through with various replacements or be permanently disabled.

Settled in the surgical waiting area of UTMC’s orthopedics department, he was glad that Ash, Sadi, and Dagger were all with him. Part of him felt Calm, cool, and collected like he usually did when facing quite a bit of stress, but there was another part of him that felt anything but. That part of him was the side he felt was similar to how Aerin’d reacted when he’d been taken in for his rectal prolapse repair a few Years ago.

“She’ll be all right, man,” the younger bassist said, gently squeezing his knee.

“I know she’ll pull through this,” he sighed, dragging a hand down his face before twisting his wedding ring around on his finger nervously. “If there’s one thing Aerin is and always will be, it’s stubborn to the very marrow of her bones.”

“Ya got that right,” Ash chuckled. “Not even an anterior hip replacement’s gonna keep her down for long, if she’s _her_ way about it.”

“Well, once we get her up and fighting through the pain of being fresh outta surgery,” the Silver Fox laughed.

“That’ll come once the anesthesia wears off,” Sadi said. “Till then, she’ll get hurt quicker than she won’t.”

“Too well I know it,” Rob agreed. “After my neck surgery in ’01, then the rectal prolapse repair a few Years ago, I remember that groggy, stoned-outta-my-gourd feeling.”

“Ya mentioned that latter one earlier,” the nurse mused, a curious look on her face.

“Long story short, I got _waaaay_ too dehydrated on my next-to-last tour with my band,” he explained. “One thing led to another, and before I knew it, my guts were hanging out my ass and I couldn’t get up off the can on my own to save my Life.”

“Yikes.” Even Dagger winced. “What about your neck, though?”

“Herniated a couple discs in the late-eighties, early-nineties,” the Silver Fox answered. “When they decided they wanted to cry _Uncle!_ after about ten Years–well, that was a tour killer, too.”

“I’m guessing you’d a discectomy and spinal fusion done, then?” he queried.

“Yep, that’s it exactly.” Rob nodded as he shifted in his seat. “So, I’m more familiar with that post-surgical drugging than I’d like to admit.”

“And that’s not even including your knee replacement a couple Years ago,” his younger equivalent pointed out.

“Yeah, I keep forgetting about that one since it wasn’t a traumatic experience like the other two, even though my knee doesn’t gimme nearly as much hell now,” he chuckled.

“Then ya already have an idea of how to handle Aerin once she’s discharged,” Sadi told him.

She continued by saying that knee and hip replacements were a lil different for obvious reasons, but they’d their similarities, too. First and foremost, they generally relieved a patient’s pain right off the bat, as far as having an achy, temperamental joint went. That wasn’t including the pain of a Healing incision, of course, but that could be worked through over the course of the first week or so in most cases.

After that, the patient’d to essentially relearn how to walk due to their body needing to adjust to the Change in how their weight was beared. The new joint’d need to completely settle into place, but Aerin was gonna have an added point to that particular factor. Considering that it was a known fact that one leg was shorter than the other, her surgeon Intended to correct that upon replacing her hip. Not only would she’ve to adjust to having a hip that didn’t grind and hurt all the Time, she’d have to readjust how she’d been compensating for having a leg that turned out to be two inches shorter for Years.

Their conversation was interrupted by a nurse entering the waiting area and calling out _Friends and family of Aerin Kuykendall?_ Her husband was the first to sit up straighter and wave the nurse over, anxiousta get any kinda update at all like his wife’d once been. Nodding, she pulled her mask down under her chin as she headed in his group’s Direction, her expression completely unreadable. He wasn’t quite sure how to take that, but he decided not to freak out till he’d _heard_ this woman out and gotten that update.

“Which one of y’all’s Rob?” she asked as she took a seat with them.

“That’d be me,” the Silver Fox answered, unable to help a smirk. “I know, I know–not expecting such a young woman to be married to a guy my age.”

“Well, no–not exactly,” the nurse–apparently a Kylie Ricketts–admitted with a laugh. “But I’m not one to judge, whether it’s part of my job description or not.”

“So, how’s Aerin doing?” Ash queried curiously. “Might as well call me her brother, and I’m also her Power of Attorney.”

“And I’m her father, this being her stepmother,” Dagger added, gesturing between himself and his own wife.

“Mrs. Kuykendall’s gonna be taken to her recovery room in the next few minutes,” she told them as she nodded. “The anethesiologist’s having a bit of trouble bringing her outta the anesthesia, so it’s taking a lil longer than normal.”

“Is that normal–to have even a lil trouble, I mean?” the younger bassist asked.

“It happens sometimes,” Sadi spoke up, flashing her own badge at her fellow nurse. “Different patients’ve different reactionsta anesthesia, so it depends.”

“She’s right,” Kylie agreed. “Where one patient might be practically immune to it and take a higher doseta knock out, another might take very lil to knock out. One patient might more or less wake right up and be a lil groggy after surgery, another might need to remain intubated till it wears off completely.”

“Sounds like my wife’s one of those who’s gonna need to stay intubated,” Rob mused. “Which strikes me as a lil weird.”

“Why’s that?” the nurse queried.

“’She’s a long-term scrip for Percocet, and while that’ll make her a lil drowsy, it won’t knock her out for Days on End or anything like that,” he answered.

“And she told me that the few Times she ever had to take T3 before she left North Carolina, it wired her up like it did to her pappaw instead of pretty much sedating her,” the younger bassist agreed.

“Well, painkillers and true anesthesia’re also a lil different,” Kylie chuckled. “But yeah, it does seem a lil odd that one medication’d barely do anything to her while another’d keep her knocked out.”

“Think it’s anything to do with being the mother of fairly active twins?” her stepmother asked. “Maybe she was just already so tired that her body’s asserting its own Natural need for rest.”

Nodding as her eyes widening in an _Ah, ha!_ moment kinda way, the nurse agreed that she could very well be onto something with that suggestion. Pushing herself up from the chair she’d appropriated, she said she’d go check to see how much longer it’d be till her patient was moved into a recovery room. While she was back in the surgical suite, she’d run that theory past the team that’d been in charge of her surgery and see what they said.

It wasn’t long before she was Returning with a bright smile on her face, which made the entire group heave a collective sigh of relief. Aerin’d been moved to and settled in her recovery room, apparently having been brought outta the anesthesia well enough to satisfy the anesthesiologist. He agreed that between being a mother of young twins and her body demanding rest to recover, that very well coulda been why it’d been so hard to wake her up after her surgery. Keeping an eye on her was still a must, just to be sure she didn’t take a sudden downhill turn, but he was optimistic about her being just fine.

Rob and Ash were the first to go back to see her, considering that they were some of the closest to her, as far as her relationships went. Both were saddened to see her laid up in the hospital, monitor leads extending up from the neck of her hospital gown and tubes all over the place. However, they knew it was better than being permanently disabled and stuck in a wheelchair, so they didn’t let that part get to them.

Humming softly as she turned her head toward the Sound of her husband’s voice, the young woman reflexively Returned the squeeze given to her hand. She was still asleep, this Time mostly from her body asserting its own Natural need for rest, but at least she was subconsciously aware of his presence. A smile crossed his face as Rob settled in for a long Night by her side, knowing that the younger bassist’d take her parents back home once they’d gotten to see her and update everybody else. This was just the start of a long road to recovery, but he’d Faith that she’d be back to her old Self in no Time at all. For that matter, she’d be better than she ever was since they’d met, if only ’cuz her hip’d quit committing mutiny all the Time.


	78. Seventy-Seven

Just a couple hours after she’d been brought outta surgery and into her recovery room, Aerin’d run into a bit of a problem she hadn’t even been aware of. Due to a migraine she’d woken up with, but was determined wasn’t gonna ruin her _Mabon_ celebration, she’d taken a dose of Excedrin. One of the active ingredients in that particular OTC was aspirin, which was known to thin one’s blood, hence why it was prescribed for those with a history of heart attacks.

But considering the frequency of her migraines, and thus the frequency with which she’d to take that particular drug, her blood was a lot thinner than the surgical team’d been expecting. She’d done just fine throughout her surgery, but once in recovery, she’d taken a bit of a downhill turn that they hadn’t been expecting. Her blood was simply too thin to clot properly, and the slightest movement’d set her incision to pouring blood.

Unfortunately, the hospital’s blood bank didn’t have enough of her blood type on hand to replace what she’d lost during surgery on top of this. The team’d almost thought they were gonna have to call a code, if they couldn’t staunch the bleeding, not to mention outsource transfusionsta replace what she’d lost. But they’d wound up getting a saving Grace that was just as unexpected as the young woman’s sudden hemorrhaging, and they were all more than grateful for it. Granted, that saving Grace’d taken a bit of setup to actually utilize, but it was certainly doable–and most certainly saved her Life.

As was fairly typical between parent and child, Dagger turned out to be O-positive just like his daughter’d p-roven to be at the Beginning of her pregnancy. Getting a donation from him was their best choice, ’cuz that was bound to reduce any potential complications since the pair were obviously related. Rob also being O-positive meant that he could give a donation of his own, and they still prolly wouldn’t run into any complications since they were the same blood type. However, Ash and Sadi also proved to be a match to her blood type and decided to put themselves on standby without having to be asked. Should she need more transfusions than what her father and husband could donate without putting themselves at risk, they’d have a couple more sourcesta work with before having to outsource their demand for blood.

Luckily, the two pints Aerin got from her father and husband combined was enough to at least get her through the Night safely. Not only that, but the clotting agents the medical team’d given her helped whatever blood was in her veins–regardless of whose it technically was–clot and fully stanch her bleeding. Within a couple hours, her vitals were perfectly stable again, and it was almost like she’d never started to take even a slight downhill turn. Everybody was able to relax, which allowed the Silver Fox to settle in and get some rest that he now desperately needed. That also allowed Ash to take her parents back home, where Dagger settled in to get some rest since he was feeling a bit on the weak side, too.

_“Mmm_ –ow, fuck.”

Rob started awake as he heard those three words, his eyes flying wide open and immediately darting over to lock on his wife. “Well, good Morn, sweetheart.”

“Fuck a Duck, what happened to me?” she whimpered, clearly trying to shift into a more comfortable position.

“Dislocated hip to start with,” the Silver Fox answered, pushing himself up to help her as much as he could. “Gotcha here to UT, and they decidedja prolly oughta get a hip replacement instead of trying to wrestle your hip back into socket since there were no guarantees it’d _stay_ in for long.”

“Oh, yeah–now I remember,” Aerin said, nodding before her eyes locked onto something else that made them widen. “Goddess, fuck–what happened to your arm?”

“Got turned into a bit of a blood bank last Night,” he chuckled. “But as long as it ain’t gonna kill me, I’d do it again, if it means seeing my wife go home alive.”

The young woman’s eyes somehow widened even more, which looked downright comical since they were still glazed over with sleep and the remnants of painkillers.

“Your blood was as thin as Water from all the Excedrin, sweetheart,” Rob explained once she was settled comfortably. “When ya shifted in your sleep after they broughtcha outta surgery, your incision started hemorrhaging–hard.”

She couldn’t help a wince as she was told that. “And I’m guessing it was Chaotic enough that nobody remembered to tell the surgical team I’ve to take that shit for migraines, right?”

“Not till the hemorrhaging started.” The Silver Fox shook his head as he settled in his seat. “But the bigger problem was that the blood bank didn’t have any of your type on hand–too many emergencies all back-to-back’s what we were told.”

“And since we’re the same blood type…” Aerin trailed off.

“Well, your dad started out the donation,” he told her. “Team said that was actually best since you’re related.”

The young woman listened as he continued by saying that Dagger wouldn’t have been able to donate enough without losing too much blood, himself. It was then that he’d rolled up his own sleeve since he was the next closest to her and just as willing to donate as if it’d been one of his own kids he was donating to. They were lucky that between the two of them and the clotting agents she’d been given, they were able to get the bleeding under Control and not need any further transfusions.

Grabbing her hand to give it a gentle squeeze, Rob reiterated that he didn’t mind giving her such a donation since she was his wife. Doing that was certainly better than having to sit back and watch her die, then have to go back home and explain to Zep and Zeph why Mommy wasn’t with him. He certainly didn’t wanna have to plan her funeral with her this young, if there was something he coulda done to save her.

Aerin couldn’t help a laugh as she Returned that squeeze, quick to remind him that she was a Witch who’d come to terms with her mortality over a decade ago. While she obviously wouldn’t wanna leave her babies at such a young age, she was a firm believer in the vast majority having too much of a God complex. If it was her Time to go, it was simply her Time to go and she’d rather go out with whatever Dignity she could muster up for whatever state she was in. Besides, considering how young her babies were, she’d prolly chooseta stay behind, rather than cross over, so she could occasionally pop in like Bob Crosswhite did and pay all of them a visit when they needed it.

Their conversation was interrupted by a nurse coming in to do her rounds, said nurse’s face lighting up when she saw her patient awake and at least somewhat alert. She told them that as long as she proved to be doing well enough, they’d be getting her up to walk around sometime after breakfast, which wasta be served in the next hour or so. After that, they’d decide exactly when to discharge her, depending on how well she did, as well as get her physical therapy set up. It was just the start of her recovery, now that she’d woken up, but at least she was already making progress, which was a good sign.

“Sum-bitch! Pull my leg like that again, and see how quick I put your ass in a chastity belt for at least a week!”

Ash and Aidan were a bit startled by what they heard as soon as they walked into their friend’s recovery room to help her husband get her dressed and out to her truck to go home later that afternoon. They knew she wasn’t particularly fond of pain, but they’d never heard her threaten him quite like that aside from when she was in labor. Course, they both knew damn good and well having a fresh incision toward the front of her thigh due to how the surgeon’d chosen to go in wasn’t helping Aerin’s attitude right now.

“I know, I know, sweetheart,” Rob said. “I wasn’t trying to pull your leg quite like that.”

“It was the damn incision that flared up more than anything,” the young woman grumbled.

“I’m sure, ’cuz my knee was the same way right after I got it replaced,” he sympathized.

“Well, let’s see if having some extra hands can’t help with that,” Ash chuckled, finally alerting them to their presence.

“Be glad you’ve seen me in my birthday suit before,” she dead-panned as she looked up at him.

“Seriously, ’cuz it won’t be the first Time I’ve seen your bare pussy–literally,” the younger bassist laughed.

“If it weren’t for the tattoos I know you’ve done for her, I’d be asking how on Earth you’d managed such a thing, if you’ve never slept with her,” his older equivalent chuckled as he moved to help him get her boxers on her.

“Like I’ve said before, not for my lack of trying right after we first met,” he said, grinning.

“Well, just be gentle on her,” Rob told him. “She can’t spread her legs too wide, or it pulls on the stitches and–well, ya heard her reaction a couple minutes ago.”

“Then gimme those since I know it’s still not as easy for ya to kneel down, even _with_ the knee replacement,” the younger bassist said.

Nodding, he let him have the pair of boxer-briefs he’d been trying to get his wife into, gladly moving to let him kneel at her feet. Ash got her feet through the legs of the garment, then started pulling them up for her once he helped hoist her to her feet. She still couldn’t help a pained groan, but at least she was able to bear weight on the leg that’d just gotten a hip replacement.

With her boxers on comfortable, Aerin suffered through the indignity of having to let her friend help get her PJ britches on since she refused to leave the hospital in jeans. She didn’t want the seams causing them to dig into that fresh incision, which was the only reason she deviated from what woulda been her norm. At least the PJ britches’d more give in that department, which meant they’d be easier to readjust when and where necessary as they headed home.

A nurse soon brought in a wheelchair to get her down to her truck, the young woman refusing to let anyone but her friends get her into it. Her husband was still a bit on the weak side after donating blood to her the Night previous, so all he could really manage was helping her to her feet. Keeping her on them once she was standing was a bit of a challenge for him, but they both knew that weakness’d fade over Time. In the meantime, her friends were more that willing to help her, both following the nurse’s instructions as she supervised the ordeal.

Once she’d been settled in the wheelchair and officially discharged, she simply settled in for the ride down to her truck. At said vehicle, which’d been pulled up to the patient loading area, she waited for the younger bassist to lock the brakes of said wheelchair. He and Aidan then moved to get her on her feet, which was quite the challenge since her truck’s door opened only so wide. They managed to do that and get her settled so she was riding shotgun, thankfully without popping her stitches or causing her _too_ much pain. From there, they let the nurse take the wheelchair back into the hospital while the ginger was getting her strapped in, their husbands settling in the back and driver’s seats, respectively. Only once they were all buckled in did they set out for the Dalls’ home, which she couldn’t wait to get back to so she could relax.

Aerin wasn’t surprised that their friends and family were waiting out front to help get her and any of their belongings into the house. Even the kids were excited to see her, her own babies impatient to hug and snuggle with her so they could reassure themselves that she was okay. But she more than appreciated getting this kinda homecoming, so she simply put up with being crowded–at least, for a few minutes. Once she was inside, though, she’d to make the crowd back off a bit, if only so she’d more breathing room as she settled onto her couch. Catching her breath and letting her pain die down was a must, especially if she didn’t wanna snap at anyone since she knew they meant well.

“Glad to see ya back home already, girlie,” Rikki chuckled, helping to hold kiddos back for a minute.

“Trust me, I’m glad to _be_ home,” the young woman said. “This incision hurts like hell, but nothing like when I went down yesterday.”

“Well, that’s a good thing,” Bret told her, unable to suppress a shiver. “’Cuz lemme tell ya, I think that scream’s gonna haunt me for a while.”

“Now ya know how I felt right after Rob’s guts fell out his rear,” she laughed, careful to watch her mouth since there were so many kids around.

“So, what exactly happened?” Zak queried, finally helping his siblings onto the couch with her. “I didn’t get here till _after_ you’d been hauled off.”

“My hip dislocated, ’cuz my arthritis ate away at it till there was pretty much nothing holding it in the socket anymore,” Aerin explained. “X-rays at the hospital proved that trying to reduce it–or put it back in–prolly wouldn’t do much good without a full replacement.”

“They said it’d just keep popping back out over and over again, which could cause even more damage, if not cost her leg,” the Silver Fox said, panting slightly as he settled next to her so that Zep was sammiched between them.

“Da fuq happened to _you,_ though?” he asked, his eyes widening since he knew his dad didn’t act like this.

“Ah, don’t worry about me, son–I’ll be fine,” Rob assured him with a chuckle. “But I wasn’t gonna just _let_ my wife die, if giving a blood donation’d bring her back home alive.”

_“Ahhhh,_ I gotcha.” The younger Dall nodded, ’cuz he’d donated blood before and knew how weak a person could feel after doing so.

“He’s not the only one in that boat,” Dagger chuckled, rolling up his own sleeve to let his wife examine whatever remained of his own puncture wound. “I went first when she started hemorrhaging and they didn’t have enough of our type in the blood bank–he covered what I couldn’t.”

“Luckily, two pints between us and clotting agents did the trick,” he said.

“Now, it’s just a matter of doing my physical therapy and getting back to normal,” Aerin agreed.

“Which I can definitely help with since I know exactly what you’re going through.”

Looking up, the young woman couldn’t help laughing as she saw Nikki Sixx in the archway that led to the foyer, his own wife next to him. She’d forgotten that she’d invited even _his_ family to celebrate _Mabon_ with them this Year, considering the Chaos that’d interrupted them. But he certainly had a point that she couldn’t deny as he leaned down to give her a hug, considering he’d gotten a hip replacement a few Years before she’d met her husband. Not only that, but it was his left hip that’d gotten replaced, so he not only knew how it felt to have to go through the aftermath of such a surgery, but one on that side, too.

Once the oldest bassist and Courtney were filled in on what’d happened, as well as introduced to those they hadn’t met, Nikki couldn’t help a wince. He still felt sorry that she’d to deal with the effects of such a crippling disease, but part of him was glad to know that she wasn’t alone there. That made him feel a bit sorry for the rest of her family that proved to also have it, but they were quick to wave off his Sympathy.

Considering they’d been so unexpectedly interrupted, everybody’d decided to hold off on actually celebrating the Sabbat at hand. Some of the dishes’d to be remade since saving them was outta the question, but the remaining womenfolk’d banded together to take care of that overnight. Besides, holding off on the celebration meant they could add a successful surgery and start to recovery for Aerin to their list of shit to be thankful for this Year.

Following the celebration and partaking of the feast, she couldn’t help a yawn that wasn’t from her Percocet, which hadn’t kicked in quite yet. Luckily, everybody understood that she needed to rest so she could recover as much as she needed to do her physical therapy. Nobody from the group was the slightest bit offended when the young woman expressed a desire to call it an early Night and head off to bed. In fact, Rikki and Bret helped get her up to her feet, then into the master suite so she could get changed for bed. Everybody else worked together to clean up from today’s feast and get kiddos put to bed a couple hours later, and none of them coulda been happier as they did so.


	79. Seventy-Eight

_March, 2026_

_Troy, North Carolina_

Six months after her sudden hip replacement, Aerin took a deep breath as she prepared to do something she’d sworn she’d never do. Physically speaking, she was long since recovered from that surgery, the cold Weather-induced pain she’d faced that Winter being nothing new to her. It’d been a lil worse than what she was used to, but nothing she couldn’t handle–even _without_ Percocet for the most part. More than anything, she was just glad to be able to walk without being on tip-toe on one foot, her other foot being in a normal walking position in comparison.

But Emotionally speaking, she still had a few demonsta deal with from her Past, if she wanted to be able to move on without them holding her back. The biggest demon she could name off the top of her head–confronting her mother about all the lies she’d told all her Life. Even if she never got the bitch to tell her the Truth, she knew Thoughts about those lies’d haunt her till the Day she died, if she _didn’t_ confront her.

It was for that reason that the young woman’d Traveled to the hometown of one of Kat’s exes, which happened to house the State prison she’d been moved to. She wasn’t a high-profile enough inmate to warrant being moved to the womens’ prison out in Raleigh, considering that a Blanche Taylor More, she most certainly wasn’t. But even though she’d her husband, father, and stepmother all with her today, she couldn’t help but be nervous as they headed in to sign in as visitors. After all, this was the first Time she’d be seeing the woman who’d borne her since the Night she’d tried to knock her head off in Charlotte. She hadn’t even gone to any of her trial proceedings–just recorded a video testimony so she wouldn’t have to see her in person.

Rob gently rubbed his wife’s back as they soon settled at a table in the inmate visitation area, where they waited for her mother to be brought out. He knew this was something she didn’t particularly _wanna_ do, but rather felt like she _had_ to do in order to move on with her Life. Course, he didn’t blame her for being so nervous–he doubted he’d be anything less, if he were to confront a Lifelong abuser on just about any topic, after all. In fact, he suspected he’d be just as nervous, even if he didn’t show it nearly as much as his wife was right now.

“What the–”

Looking up at the Sound of a familiar voice, Aerin saw a face that looked older than its Years for the first Time in its Life. “Didn’t expect to see any of us, huh?”

Her mother was frozen in her tracks, only moving to take a seat when prodded by the guard who’d brought her into the room.

“Katherine.” Dagger’s voice was as cold as an Iceberg as he addressed his ex-wife, his eyes frozen just as solid as he looked at her.

“What on Earth’re _you_ doing here?” she snapped, finally finding her voice as her eyes clapped onto him.

“Moral support,” the slightly younger man answered. “That, and to get a few answers for myself–although I’m not exactly holding out Hope for that.”

“Ya see, after our reunion last Summer, ya got caught in a few different lies,” the youngest woman said, bringing her attention back to her.

“I dunno what you’re talking about,” Kat snapped.

“How ’bout the fact thatcha cheated on Dad not even a week before y’all got married?” the young woman suggested. “Or the fact that y’all got married on January _fifteenth,_ contrary to your saying it was on the seventeenth my entire Life before I left this shit-hole State?”

Her hazel eyes widened in horror at being called out on that, which was comical to those sitting across from her.

“Ooh, another one–how ’bout the fact thatcha lied to me about my being a twin, about how Dad didn’t want a damn thing to do with me and ran off for parts unknown when I was a baby?” Aerin continued.

“I–I–” the former blonde stammered, clearly caught off-guard.

“Ya see, I’d started coming up with a few theories about what _really_ happened back then after Daddy’s funeral, but never had any proof to corroborate ’em,” she told her. “Therefore, I decided to just keep my mouth shut and get the hell outta Dodge, so to speak, like a true Libra–even though I’m actually a Virgo.”

Kat’s mouth opened and closed several Times as she floundered for a response, but she just couldn’t seem to actually find any words.

Leaning forward so she’d no choice but to look her dead in the eye, the young woman started laying out the theories she’d come up with. Considering how she’d been when she first left North Carolina going on seven Years ago, it wouldn’t surprise her to find out that her mother’d married the first Time for money. After all, just about everybody knew that marrying a military man could garner some damn good benefits for the military spouse, and she was a greedy fuckin’ bitch. Then again, even if that hadn’t been the case, getting married to hide the fact that she’d cheated on him was a pretty good theory, too.

If she’d married Dagger under the assumption that a lotta money was involved, she’d a theory as to what started the marital breakdown after that. Upon finding out that he didn’t have nearly as much money as she thought and wouldn’t be getting a fuck-load either, she’d started fabricating various things. The most notable’d be how he’d supposedly abused her, whether that was before, during, or after her pregnancy with her.

From there, Aerin figured that her mother’d never bothered trying to have a custody battle over her that she’d ultimately won. No, what she thought’d happened was that she’d threatened her now ex-husband into leaving and breaking off all contact on the grounds that she’d ruin his military career. Granted, that’d happened when he’d written what turned out to be bad checks in a feeble attempt to take care of her, which he’d eventually stopped before he got himself into so much trouble, he’d never see the Light of Day again. It was then that her mother’d started hiding and Returning various mailpieces addressed to herself and saying that he’d simply failed to even attempt having anything to do with her.

What the young woman wanted to know now was why she’d not only lied to her about being a twin, but why she hadn’t just put her up for adoption once she was born. It was pretty clear that Kat’d never been cut out to be a mother, and that she’d have been better off as an adoptee, if she hadn’t been turned over to her grandparents. Maybe then, she’d have gotten the Healthcare she so desperately needed long before getting to a point that she was technically disabled for Life.

“’Cuz due to your refusal to get to know Dad–and therefore his medical history–we’d absolutely _no_ idea that I was pretty much guaranteed to have rheumatoid arthritis,” she snarled, flexing her handsta attempt alleviating the stiffness of her fingers.

“It runs as rampant in my family as I’m told diabetes runs in _yours,_ Katherine,” Dagger said. “And not just rheumatoid arthritis, but the _juvenile_ form, at that.”

The former blonde’s eyes widened as her jaw dropped in shock.

“Remember all those Times ya swore my joints–particularly my knees and ankles–only hurt ’cuz of _growing pains?”_ Aerin queried on a growl. “Yeah, it wasn’t fuckin’ _growing pains_ –it was from the rheumatoid arthritis eating the cartilage in my joints and making ’em fall the fuck apart.”

“That kinda damage coulda been mitigated so that she wouldn’t have the joints of an eighty-Year-old now, if you’d listened to her complaints and sought treatment as a child,” Sadi spoke up. “Which was exactly what I did with my own kids since I knew about Dagger’s history, ’cuz I took the Time to actually ask about it.”

“I get not wanting to be a hypochondriac like _your_ mother and various other family members,” the young woman told her. “But there’s a fine balance between not turning into that–or proving to be a _Munchausen’s_ case of any kind–and being a neglectful, abusive bitch.”

“I wasn’t–” she started, which was obviously the wrong thing to do here.

“Oh, shove it up your ass, bitch!” Aerin snapped, jumping up from her seat to pace, which put the guard on-edge since she didn’t know what she was about to do. “That’s a fuckin’ lie, whether it comes outta your mouth in its entirety or not!”

The former blonde clamped her mouth shut, actually looking scared of her daughter.

“Ya never would take me _or_ Garth to a doctor when we were kids unless we were dying, or the fuckin’ school system madeja!” she continued. “Hell, other than the joint doctor’s appointment when I was twelve or thirteen, I don’t remember ya taking even _him_ to a doctor aside from when he was two and gave himself some serious burns with a bowl of hot chili he pulled down onto himself!”

Even Rob looked horrified at the memory she recalled, which woulda happened when she was around the age of nine. As much as he loved his own kids–even Zach and Zoe–he couldn’t imagine letting his Love of cooking cause them some kinda harm like that. Hearing that kinda recollection earned his mother-in-law a dirty look from him as he managed to pull his wife down into his lap so the guard would relax, rather than thinking any of them a true threat.

Glaring at her mother, the young woman made no bones about how her Life coulda been so much different in any given number of ways, if she weren’t such a liar. She didn’t necessarily expect a full declassification on anything, ’cuz she knew damn good and well she wouldn’t have gotten that before she ever walked into this prison. Fuck only knew that most women’d a hard Time talking about miscarriages they’d suffered, so she wouldn’t have pushed her for details on her lost twin. But she damn well coulda told her that she _was_ a twin who was stuck being on their own instead of having that Nature-made partner right from the get-go.

Kat seemed to deflate as she finally nodded and admitted that she was right about that, if nothing else that she’d formed her own theories about. She still refused to admit that she’d cheated on her first ex-husband before they were even married, but that was of lil import. All of her visitors already knew the Truth, and they decided that it wasn’t worth getting into a fight over now, but there was plenty more to talk about.

“Honestly, I’m not even sure I give a fuck about your reasons why at this point,” Aerin admitted, leaning back against her husband’s chest.

“Then why bother showing up here?” her mother demanded with a sour look on her face.

“’Cuz it was a demon that wasn’t gonna get exorcised, if I didn’t,” she answered. “And I’m not letting a demon like that cause me to repeat your mistakes with my own kids, especially after I wound up with a hip replacement last Autumn due to your abusive neglect.”

Kat’s eyes widened in shock upon learning that she was a grandmother.

“Yeah, I know I always said that I didn’t want kids, and I still didn’t when I got pregnant,” the young woman told her. “But my own twins were about as unplanned as it gets, and I wouldn’t give ’em up for shit–not ’cuz I’m too damn stubborn to admit that I shouldn’t have had ’em, but ’cuz I love ’em with every fiber of my being.”

“Same reason I didn’t run away from finding out I was gonna be a daddy again, even though both my existing kids at that point were grown,” the Silver Fox drawled. “So what, if I barely survive long enough to see them graduate high school, let alone college–or get married and start families of their own? My kids _all_ mean the World to me and then some, which’s why my younger daughter being named after me’s an Honor.”

“Wait, really?” Even Dagger turned a surprised look on him.

“Yeah, ’cuz one of her middle names is Roberta,” he answered, nodding. “One of her twin’s middle names is Robert, but we decided to let that be in Honor of Aerin’s pappaw since he and I share a given name.”

The former blonde’s eyes widened even further, and it was downright comical.

“Trust me, ya won’t be getting anymore grandbabies outta me any more than Dad will,” Aerin chuckled dryly. “I don’t plan on dying anything but a proud Kuykendall, and if I do, it won’t be till long after Rob’s dead and gone.”

“And since I got snipped the Day those two were born–yeah, there won’t be anymore _lovable accidents_ on my End, either,” he agreed.

Apparently deciding that she wasn’t gonna divulge any of her reasons for doing what she’d done in the Past, Kat finally signaled to the waiting guard. Her daughter seemed content with letting her be taken back to her cell, her slightly smug look saying more than her mouth ever could. Far as she was concerned, her mother knowing that she’d pretty much pieced together all her past misdeeds on her own was good enough, and she didn’t need more lies in the form of excuses that held no weight.

Rising from the table they’d been sitting at, both couples followed another guard so they could get checked out and leave. Looking down at his oldest daughter, Dagger shook his head and said that he no longer blamed her for cutting off all contact with her mother. When they’d first been reunited, he couldn’t fathom why she’d wanna do such a thing, ’cuz he’d always been close with his own mother prior to her Death. But now that he’d seen his ex-wife’s attitude to himself, he didn’t have to ask himself why she preferred considering herself an orphan till their reunion, at best.

On their way back out to her truck since they’d driven out from Tenn, Aerin told him that she pretty much _was_ an orphan till the Summer previous. All the Times her mother’d sworn she was the _Black Sheep_ of her family’d pretty much been yet another lie she’d always told. The former blonde fit into her side of the family than she’d ever fit in herself, despite their differences, which were Primarily religious.

With this particular demon confronted and exorcised, as far as she was concerned, the young woman insisted that they never speak of her mother or this side of her family again. As far as she was concerned, they were all dead to her for one reason or another, if they weren’t _actually_ dead and gone like her pappaw was. She’d no desire to ever associate with them again, and therefore, she didn’t wanna talk about any of them, either. It was better for her Sanity that they all be buried in the only way the Living could be, her mother in particular since she’d caused her the most grief. Now was the Time to start fresh, even though it was neither _Samhain,_ nor the New Year’s that the rest of the Planet celebrated.

That new, fresh start–well, started the moment she cranked up her truck, ready to leave behind this shit-hole State for what she hoped was the final Time, once and for all.


	80. Seventy-Nine

_Loudon, Tenn_

The first thing that Aerin did upon arriving back home was head straight for her Sacred Circle on the far side of their pool. Dagger and Sadi were both a bit confused since they’d never actually seen her do anything Pagan, just been invited to join in on the few Sabbats that’d cropped up since the father-daughter reunion. Shaking his head, her husband told them rather quickly that disturbing her right now was no doubt to incite that hot, Tennessean temper of hers. Even her twin toddlers warned them that Mama didn’t go to her special spot unless she really needed to before she went bananas.

However, Rob didn’t try to stop them from watching from the back deck, his only warning being to keep their voices down so they wouldn’t carry across the yard. He knew without a doubt that watching her’d help prove that–contrary to what they thought–Paganism wasn’t necessarily a bad religion. At its most basic, it was about worshipping and taking from the Earth only what one needed, as well as giving back to the Earth. When it was boiled down to that, it wasn’t really that much different from the Tree-hugging hippies of the sixties.

Watching as the young woman kicked her boots off so she was barefoot, they all kept their voices down as questions were asked and answered as well as they could be. Naturally, the other couple was curious as to what she was doing, and he couldn’t help a chuckle as he answered. The way it’d been explained to him, heading down to her Sacred Circle for a Grounding and Centering session was akin to going to church. It was something that not only reconnected her to the Earth and Strengthened that connection, but served to help put her back in touch with her chosen Deities. That wasn’t even counting reconnecting her to the Cosmos at large and Strengthening _that_ connection, either. But aside from that, the Silver Fox didn’t really try to explain it–he knew that it was kinda like pregnancy, which was better experienced as opposed to explained.

“I guess that makes sense,” her stepmother mused, a thoughtful look on her face.

“Well, Dagger and I obviously can’t experience pregnancy for ourselves,” Rob chuckled. “Ya can explain it and how all its Changes feel to us till ya turn blue in the face, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll get it.”

“Whereas another woman’s gonna get it with fewer words, especially if she’s already been through it, or goes through it in the Future,” her father said, Enlightenment Dawning across his features.

“That’s exactly what I meant when I made that comparison,” he agreed with a nod. “I didn’t really _get_ what she meant when she explained it to me like that–till I joined her in Grounding and Centering one Time.”

“Madeja feel more connected to all things material _and_ Energetic, huh?” Sadi queried with a chuckle of her own.

“Exactly. It was like I’d been walking around in a fog all my Life that suddenly cleared, granting me the ability to see everything within and around me clearly,” the Silver Fox answered. “Feeling like I was flying, yet firmly rooted to the ground was weird, but I can’t say it was bad and be telling the Truth.”

“That’s pretty much how we feel by going to church,” Dagger mused.

“Hence why I choseta just use _Aerin’s_ comparison,” Rob laughed. “That was how she put it right after she and I met, before we all moved out here from Nashville.”

“Really?” her stepmother asked, her eyes widening curiously.

“She’d a Sacred Circle set up in hers and Ash’s back yard where they were living at the Time,” he answered, nodding again. “I felt the Energy coming off it that was Intended to drive away those with ill Intent, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Since I’ve always been a curious bastard, I didn’t hesitate to ask, and that’s how she put it to me.”

Turning their attention back to where Aerin appeared to be hugging herself in the Center of said Circle, her father admitted that he still wasn’t quite sure he got it. He wasn’t knocking her choices, if only ’cuz he could tell that doing that’d just alienate her, and he felt they’d been estranged from one another for long enough. If this was what suited her the best, he wasn’t gonna argue the point–he was just gonna let her do her thing while doing his own.

Nodding approvingly as he squatted down to pick up Zep and Zeph when they hugged his legs, the Silver Fox said that was the best thing anyone could do. His wife was quite the stubborn one when she wanted to be, and she didn’t like being told how to live her Life by anyone else. That was the very reason she’d left North Carolina when she had, and she wasn’t going back to the toxic kinda Lifestyle she’d left behind.

But even Sadi was surprised when they suddenly heard an unfamiliar Melody just as even Andy and Zoe joined them, their own baby in Zoe’s arms. It wasn’t very often that his wife’d burst into song for no apparent reason when she knew others who’d never heard her sing were around. Course, if it helped with Grounding and Centering herself, none of them were gonna try to stop her, if that was what she was in the mood for. If anything, they were more interested in making out the lyrics drifting from her lips so they could figure out _why_ she’d chosen this particular song.

_“Grew up in a small Town, and when the Rain would fall down, I’d just stare out my window…Dreamin’ of what could be, and if I’d End up happy_ – _I would pray…”_ the young woman sang, her voice just as haunting as it ever was with a particularly Emotional song.

Even Andy was cocking his head curiously, but didn’t say a word as he listened.

_“Tryin’ hard to reach out, but when I tried to speak out…felt like no one could hear me… Wanted to belong here, but something felt so wrong here, so I prayed I could break away…”_

“Holy shit,” his own daughter breathed, her eyes widening.

“What is it, hon?” the young front man queried, turning a curious look on her.

“If this is the song I _think_ it is, I haven’t heard it in prolly closeta twenty Years,” she answered, her eyes wide with surprise.

_“I’ll spread my wings and I’ll learn how to fly_ – _I’ll do what it takes till I touch the Sky, and I’ll make a Wish, take a chance, make a Change, and break away…”_ Aerin continued, unwrapping her arms and raising them over head like she usually did when Grounding and Centering. _“Out of the Darkness and into the Sun, but I won’t forget all the ones that I love… I’ll take a risk, take a chance, make a Change, and break away…”_

“I didn’t even think she knew this one,” he chuckled, his voice reverberating from deep in his chest due to its depth.

“What _is_ it?” Dagger queried, a curious look of his own coloring his features.

_“Breakaway_ by Kelly Clarkson,” Andy answered. “Came out around ’05, if I remember right, but I’ve always been more into heavy Metal.”

“Just like my wife,” the Silver Fox chuckled. “So yeah, it’s a bit of a surprise when she rips into something that _doesn’t_ fall under that genre.”

The slightly older couple could help soft laughs of their own, both agreeing that it’d definitely be a bit of a surprise for that to happen. It was as much of a surprise as when she ripped into a country song, even though she’d obviously been born and raised in the South. She might have a bit of a rough-and-tumble country girl side, but more often than not, she tended to act like she belonged on the Sunset Strip back in the eighties. But just ’cuz she tended to prefer hard rock and heavy Metal didn’t mean she didn’t like other types of Music–it was just rare for her to listen to or sing songs from other genres.

_“Wanna feel the warm Breeze, sleep under a Palm Tree, feel the rush of the Ocean… Get onboard a fast train, Travel on a jet plane, far away, and break away…”_

Rob couldn’t help a chuckle that caught his father-in-law’s attention, knowing the only part of that verse his young wife _hadn’t_ done was board any kinda train. After all, she’d boarded a plane and flown elsewhere at least a couple Times, if only when they’d gone to New York right after the release of his book. Not only that, but he remembered their first date and honeymoon all too clearly, even though a failing memory was inevitable as one aged. He knew for a fact that she’d felt a warm Breeze plenty of Times over the course of her Life, but especially when she was down in Florida. And they’d spent the Night under a nearby Palm Tree while on their honeymoon simply ’cuz they’d drifted off while stargazing and hadn’t woken till the next Morn. They were memories he cherished, and would most definitely be taking into his grave with him when his Time came.

_“Buildings with a hundred floors, swingin’ ’round revolvin’ doors_ – _maybe I don’t know where they’ll take me, but gotta keep movin’ on, movin’ on… Fly away, break away…”_

“She’s definitely got talent when it comesta her voice,” Sadi chuckled as they continued listening.

“It’s one of her most sensitive topics,” the Silver Fox sighed. “She knows she’s an incredible voice–enough to flabbergast even my former band mate, Bret–but that was just one of the things her mother used to abuse her.”

“I’d love nothing more than to throttle my ex-wife for that,” Dagger growled. “And if I’d known _that_ was what she was gonna do to her after I left, I’d have fought for custody harder than what I did.”

“Trust me, Aerin’ll be the first to remindja that it’s in the Past and needsta stay there,” he told him. “She’s more concerned with the here-and-now, ’cuz that’s the part that mattersta her.”

Even Andy nodded his agreement as they turned their attention back to her.

_“I’ll spread my wings and I’ll learn how to fly_ – _though it’s not easy to tell you goodbye, I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a Change, and break away! Out of the Darkness and into the Sun, but I won’t forget the place I come from… I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a Change, and break away! Break away…break away…”_

Everybody that was up on the back deck simply watched as the young woman Returned to hugging herself, her head bowing as if she were praying. None of them’d the heart to try disturbing her, whether Rob advised against it or not, since they could tell she still needed a bit to herself. After all, facing her abuser like she’d done recently was never easy for anyone, so they didn’t expect it to be easy for her.

Shortly thereafter, Aerin lifted her head and rolled her shoulders, looking like she felt ten foot tall and bulletproof before leaning down to grab her boots. Her husband wasn’t surprised by that, ’cuz that was how she tended to act right after such a session, so he wasn’t worried about it. In fact, he’d have been more worried, if she _hadn’t_ been acting like that, ’cuz he’d have known something’d gone wrong and she was prolly feeling even worse than before.

Once she reached the back deck, she was quick to wrap her arms around his waist, which prompted the other menfolk to take Zep and Zeph from him. The Silver Fox was quick and more than eager to Return the hug he was given once his arms were free, which made her sigh contently. In turn, that made him let out a content hum as she rested her head against his chest, that hum quick to turn into a soft gasp as he jerked back just enough to look down at her. Naturally, that surprised the rest of the group since they hadn’t seen what he’d obviously felt, but they started to get an idea once they saw the devious grin on her face. That told them all they needed or wanted to know, which made them laugh as she made him gasp again before letting out a growl.

Hearing Aerin declare that she was hungry combined with the look on her face made everyone else laugh and turn to head back inside. Between the two couples, they knew that even the twins’d be taken care of for a lil bit, so they weren’t too worried about them. If anything, her husband was more interested in what she was up to when she sent him on to their bedroom ahead of him. This wily woman was always full of surprises, but as far as he knew, she didn’t have any of those Blessed _Pop Rocks_ at the moment. Knowing that, he couldn’t help wondering what was up her sleeves, but he knew he was sure to find out soon enough. He just hoped that _whatever_ it was, it was something he’d enjoy, now that she’d started to rile him up in even the slightest way. After all, it wasn’t like he wanted to be left hanging any more than he wanted his boundaries crossed.

Feeling his wife kneel behind him on their bed made Rob hum, but he was surprised when his World suddenly went black. He hadn’t ever let this lil minx blindfold him or anything of the sort, so it made him throw his guard up a bit when she did that. But hearing her sultry, teasing laugh right in his ear sent a shiver down his spine that couldn’t be suppressed, no matter what he did.

“Relax, love–you’ll like what you’re in for as much as I will,” the young woman veritably purred.

“I’m not too sure about that, if you’re blindfolding me,” he retorted uncertainly.

“Ah, live a lil,” Aerin told him, gently squeezing his shoulders. “What I’m about to do to ya will broaden your horizons.”

“Something about that makes me even more wary than I already was,” the Silver Fox admitted, yelping when she shoved him onto his back.

“Well, I can safely say that it ain’t like I’ma shove anything up your ass,” she laughed. “Not unless that’s whatcha want, that is.”

“Uh, uh–no fuckin’ way!” Rob said vehemently. _“That_ orifice is a one-way door, damn it!”

“Till your guts fall out it and a doctor’s trying to push ’em back in,” the young woman snickered.

“That’s a totally different ballgame in a completely different ball park, woman!” he insisted.

“Like I said, relax,” Aerin chuckled. “I know your limits, and it ain’t like I’m gonna cross any of them without permission.”

“Ya better not,” the Silver Fox grumbled. “’Cuz that _might_ be the thing that convinced me to file for divorce again, depending on whatcha did.”

“Nothing involving your ass unless I’m biting at your leg right beneath your ass cheek,” she swore, her grin evident in her voice. “And I know for a fact thatcha like that.”

“A lil too much sometimes,” Rob agreed, gasping when he felt something close around his wrists. “Woman, what on Earth–”

Letting out another teasing laugh, the young woman simply continued with whatever it was that she was Intent on doing to him. He felt her tug one arm up over his head, which made the other follow it and told him that she’d just did something to bind his wrists together. Moments later, his arms were still over his head, but pulling them back down made him realize that she’d just bound them to their headboard.

Aerin grinned as she slowly worked her way downward, pausing only to slowly unbutton his shirt as she made her way down the bed. Considering that he didn’t have a tank top on under it for once, it wouldn’t really matter if it’d been taken completely off at the moment. Whether it got dirty with what she was about to do to him or not wasn’t that big a concern, given that it could always be washed later. Her bigger worry was getting his jeans off him, now that he was half-restrained, as well as that he ultimately enjoyed what she did to him–which she fully Intended to make sure of.

The Silver Fox couldn’t help a relieved sigh when he felt her unbutton his fly, which was straining more than a lil uncomfortably at this point. Feeling his zipper get pulled down was an even bigger relief, especially when he throbbed in a way that woulda otherwise been painful. In fact, he didn’t even question her as she pulled his jeans down, just lifted his hips enough for her to pull them even further down his legs so she could pull them all the way off.

Rob didn’t know what she was up to as he felt her moving around, and he couldn’t deny that he was starting to get antsy. He wasn’t expecting to feel something wrap around his right ankle, which made him instinctively try to jerk his foot up toward his torso. But that was apparently amusing to his young wife, who simply laughed as she pulled his leg so it was stretched out again. Trying to pull it toward his torso a second Time Revealed that it was now secured to something much like his hands were. Not only that, but it distracted him enough that he didn’t realize she was about to do the same thing to his _left_ leg till it was too late and he was fully restrained.

“Woman, what on Earth’re ya up to?” he queried, unable to help his Curiosity as much as his confused wariness.

_“Mmm,_ nothing turns me on quite like a bound man does,” Aerin hummed.

“That so _didn’t_ answer my question,” the Silver Fox grumbled.

“’Cuz I didn’t want it to,” she laughed, crawling up the bed toward his head. “Just be glad I’m not about to torture your junk while there ain’t a damn thing ya can do to stop me.”

“Ya better not, if you’re half as much into BDSM as you and Ash claim ya are,” Rob warned her.

“Not gonna happen, love–Scout’s Honor,” the young woman promised.

“Far as I know, ya were never a Girl Scout, so I don’t think that appliesta ya,” he chuckled.

“Oh, just shut up and enjoy,” she told him before leaning down for a quick, but searing kiss.

_“Hmm-mmm.”_ The Silver Fox was all too happy to Return the kiss, hoping that she didn’t torment him too much as she soon broke it.

“Goddess knows _I’ma_ enjoy the hell outta this,” Aerin mused as she crawled off their bed.

“What–leaving me bound here till I piss the bed?” he laughed.

“Don’t tempt me,” the young woman retorted, her grin still evident in her voice. “Well, that’s once ya lose the boner, anywhore.”

“Ya love me too much to do that,” Rob said.

“But not too much to do…this.”

Seconds later, the Silver Fox gasped sharply as he felt something Ice-cold hit his chest, which made him arch like somebody’d dropped a snowball down the back of his shirt. Whatever it was, Aerin used it to draw intricate patterns all over his torso for the next minute or so, which allowed his body heat to seep into it. From what he could tell, whatever she was using was sticky, but he didn’t know if it was actually edible or not.

Feeling her tongue start to lap at and trace the same patterns she’d just drawn on him answered that unasked question with a quickness, though. Rob knew that whatever she’d used most certainly _was_ edible, or she wouldn’t have been tormenting him by licking it off. But he still couldn’t help one pleasured groan after another as he felt that mischievous dance, or when he felt her momentarily latch on to each of his nipples. Not even feeling her gently nip at those lil nubs before Soothing the nips with another flick of her tongue garnered a bad reaction outta him.

The next thing he felt was his wife shifting on the bed once again, and judging by the way he felt the mattress dip, she was kneeling between his thighs. Said muscular columns tensed as he let out another gasp, that same sticky substance now drawing intricate patterns all along them. After all, whatever the young woman was using to torture him was cold, so he couldn’t help having such a reaction. Nor could he help his legs somehow tensing even more as she started licking that substance off much like she’d done to his torso.

Before long, he was reduced to a needy mess positively aching for release, as evidenced by the tension in his muscles. He was even biting back the urge to whimper mindlessly as he throbbed painfully once again, considering what his wife’d been doing. Aerin seemed to be Intentionally avoiding his crotch, whether it was with where she squirted that sticky substance or where her tongue traced those intricate patterns left behind. Being teased and tormented like this was starting to wear on him, but he’d been reduced to a state where he couldn’t think straight enough to vocalize his needs. Thankfully, though, that torment was soon to come to an End–just not quite in the way he woulda expected when they’d been on the back deck.

_“Ohhhh,_ my Gods,” the Silver Fox groaned, finally feeling what he’d all but been dying for.

His wife let out a moan of her own as she sank down on him, her channel already putting him into a vice.

“If _this_ is whatcha were working up to…” Rob managed to grind out as he forced himself not to buck upward.

“Oh, it most definitely was,” the young woman assured him.

Moments later, he couldn’t help wincing slightly as his eyes suddenly registered Light again.

“But admit it–ya loved what I was doing to ya,” the young woman chuckled, leaning down to kiss him.

_“Mmm.”_ The Silver Fox couldn’t even Begin to deny that, whether they were locked in a searing kiss or not.

“And I can’t say that seeing ya writhing like that wasn’t a turn-on for me, too,” Aerin said after breaking their kiss.

“No shit, considering how wet you’ve gotten already,” he panted, squirming as much as he could beneath her.

_“Awww,_ is someone getting antsy?” the young woman laughed.

“Do ya _really_ want me to answer that, sweetheart?” Rob countered, twitching within her depths.

“Good thing _I’m_ getting just as antsy,” she snickered as she braced her hands on his shoulders.

The Silver Fox let out another groan as she slowly raised her hips, tormenting him as she worked to pull him out till only his tip remained lodged within her. Aerin’s movements were just as slow as she lowered herself again, her hips rolling ever so slightly to grind her clit against him. It was the only way that part of her anatomy was gonna get any stimulation, if she didn’t free one of his hands–which she’d no Intent of doing just yet.

Moans, groans, mewls, whimpers, and soft cries rang throughout the master suite as their pace slowly increased. If he coulda managed such a thing without hurting either of them, he’d have rolled them over so that his wife was pinned beneath him. Unfortunately, he’d have most likely hurt at least himself, considering that a man’s cock wasn’t exactly designed with bending in mind. And that wasn’t counting whether or not he’d catch his wife with a misplaced knee or elbow, given that rolling over while restrained was no easy feat, especially once joined in a most intimate manner.

But the good thing was that Aerin not only managed to keep their rhythm going without a problem, she was able to reach down to where they were joined. She let out a gasp as her own fingers came into contact with her swollen, throbbing Love button, which was the only thing to make her momentarily lose that rhythm. However, it didn’t take her long to find it again, this Time even more wildly than she’d been moving before, which made it impossible for him _not_ to squirm and buck up into her.

Within a couple minutes, the young woman jerked as she let out a screech to rival his birthday just a few months after they’d met. Getting to watch her eyes roll up into her head was a treat he didn’t get very often, but the cause of that just served to make Rob even more desperate. He couldn’t help his urge to keep thrusting up into her, having been right on the edge just as she’d jerked more or less to a dead halt. Luckily for him, it didn’t take much more for him to join his wife in that mind-numbing Bliss, considering how close he’d already been. Combined with the sensation of her still twitching around him as her orgasm came to an End, his own pleasure was swift and intense. In fact, he couldn’t have bitten back a pleasured cry of his own as he bucked up into her a final Time, even if he’d actually tried to.

Mewling as they both went limp seconds later, she just barely managed to hold herself up enough to allow both of them to breathe. Glad that she tended to recover from such mind-numbing Bliss faster, Aerin was quick to reach up and free his hands, which allowed him to wrap his still-bound arms around her. She was just thankful that he seemed to’ve liked this experience–even when he was blindfolded–as he pulled her into a tender kiss. Maybe this was something they’d get to do again from Time to Time, although not _too_ often so it wouldn’t lose its appeal to either of them. But that was something that could be considered later on, considering that they both now needed a shower to wash off any remaining Chocolate syrup from her previous torment.

**Author's Note:**

> All right, folks–since I said on the other site I post on that I was gonna take down the original rewrite and redo even that, here it is! I decided to do this 'cuz I already felt like things were a lil wonky after they started adding extra datesta the _Stadium Tour_ that was supposed to be taking place this Summer. Now that it's been rescheduled for _next_ Summer, I'ma _really_ feel like my original Timeline in _Chance Meeting_ and all its sequels is just too wonky, but I've backed myself into a corner on what _was_ gonna be the rewrite.
> 
> To that End, I've decided to scrap that and start over. May they not make too many Changesta the dates currently scheduled for the _Stadium Tour,_ 'cuz I'm using what's currently posted on Poison's website since they're gonna be the most heavily-mentioned band in this story–again. Wish me Luck, and I'ma get back at it before I start losing ideas–happy reading and writing, all!  
> ~Firefly


End file.
